Ranbaxy's recent decision to withdraw all of its generic anti-retroviral drugs from the list of HIV drugs approved by the World Health Organization was due to 'intimidation' by the US Government and as part of the US FDA's attempt to establish itself as the global arbiter of drug quality, particularly for the developing world, it is alleged.

According to a communication posted on Tuesday this week in aids-India, an e-forum for communication and information on AIDS related issues in India, Ranbaxy was forced to withdraw the drug due to the US government's intimidating stand. It said the company had been strong-armed into seeking approval from the FDA where they were planning to submitting data very soon and if the company thought these drugs were neither safe nor effective, they certainly wouldn't be going to the FDA.

According to the author Gregg Gonsalves of GMHC, New York, the reporters and editors have not dug too deep into the issue and are taking the propaganda from the Bush administration and its surrogates at face value. "While there are indeed problems with some of the bioequivalence data from Ranbaxy and Cipla, there is other data to suggest that these drugs are indeed safe and effective," felt the author of the communication, forwarded to an aids-india member from Healthgap listserve.

He said there was a coordinated campaign in US to line up the US government and the FDA as the global arbiter of drug quality, particularly for the developing world.

"The fact that some Bush administration officials and their surrogates, like the Hudson Institute, Public Health Watch and Frontiers for Freedom are exaggerating the problems with generic ARVs, means this entire debate was not happening in good faith. Sadly the Hudson Institute, Public Health Watch, Frontiers for Freedom have never had any interest in HIV/AIDS, what they do have an interest in is supporting right-wing social and economic policies and acting as the shock troops of the extreme right wing of the Republican Party," felt the writer.