In a move that could improve the fortunes of generic pharmaceutical companies in a big way, The Catholic Church has decided to ally with them in their attempt to provide low cost affordable generic medicines to the needy across the world.

In a meeting held in Vatican in the first week of May, generic companies, including Cipla Ltd from India, signed an agreement to launch an initiative to make use of the world's largest health network coordinated by The Catholic Church to dispense affordable anti-retroviral, anti-malarial drugs to the poor in developing world.

The Church, generic pharmaceutical companies and the International Federation of Catholic Pharmacies and Academics have set up a non-governmental organization "CUMVIVIUM" (which means "live together in friendship") for the purpose.

CUMVIVIUM's goals are to facilitate access of affordable medicine and to remove all barriers that delay or prevent consumer healthcare. Among CUMVIVIUM's other efforts will be the opposition to trade agreements and laws which can impede drugs from reaching the world's patients; promotion of laws that increase the utilization of affordable, high-quality medicines and strengthening of global pharmaceutical distribution networks to reach people in need.

"The Catholic Church has a well-established network of 128,000 active health institutions that have been improving the lives of millions of people around the world for many decades. Millions of people, including those in the poorest nations of the world, suffer from illnesses for which safe, effective, quality generic medicines are available--but they are denied access to these life-saving drugs. The AIDS and malaria crises make this abundantly clear. CUMVIVIUM will strive to improve access to affordable medicines and will build on the Catholic Church's solid infrastructure to enhance the health of patients around the world," states Alain LeJeune, CUMVIVIUM President, in a press release.

The organizations which are part of the initiative form 80 percent of the world's generic pharmaceutical manufacturers. The first board meeting of CUMVIVIUM was attended by representatives from the Associon Nacion Fabricantes de Medicamentos (ANAFAM-Mexico), Biogenerics, Inc., Cipla, Ltd., the European Generic Medicines Association (EU), the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GpHA, US), the International Federation of Catholic Pharmacists, as well as academics and health advocates, it has stated.