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Bush, Singh Pledge Stronger Action on AIDS Pandemic

President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh affirmed their commitment to combating the HIV/AIDS pandemic at the global level during their July 18 meetings in Washington.

A fact sheet on the subject issued by the State Department said President Bush pledged $7 million to help India combat spread of infection among its own population.

For additional information, see U.S.-India Summit: Strengthening a Global Partnership.

The text of the fact sheet follows:

Fact Sheet
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC
July 18, 2005

The United States and India: Partners in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS

Recognizing that the HIV/AIDS pandemic constitutes one of the greatest challenges facing humankind in the 21st century, the United States and India declared their shared commitment to strengthening cooperation to combat the disease at the global level. Prime Minister Singh and President Bush vowed to scale up current prevention and control initiatives in India and extend these efforts, where appropriate, to other vulnerable countries.

Expedited FDA Review of Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) Under the President's Emergency Plan and Ongoing Collaboration in the Sciences

Regarding this partnership, the U.S. will continue to expedite the review of applications for approval or tentative approval by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) of generic antiretrovirals (ARVs) received from Indian pharmaceutical companies under the President's Emergency Plan. Eight of ten generic antiretrovirals approved so far are Indian products.

India and the U.S. will continue to collaborate in basic sciences, product development, and clinical trials research, in the hopes that joint efforts may lead to the development of products with global relevance to Africa and other parts of Asia, particularly pediatric formulations of antiretrovirals. The U.S. and India will explore new opportunities for public-private collaboration on HIV/AIDS product development and increase capacity to conduct world-class clinical trials in India.

U.S.-India HIV/AIDS Private-Sector Corporate Initiative

With a large number of infections, India is at a critical point in its fight against HIV/AIDS. Following on India's recent scale up of resources and renewed political commitment to fight HIV/AIDS, President Bush announced an additional U.S. contribution of $7 million to expand resources available to fight HIV/AIDS in India. These new resources will catalyze an innovative partnership, the HIV/AIDS Private-Sector Corporate Initiative. This initiative will build alliances between U.S. and Indian companies and the governments of India and the United States in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and could be expanded to other countries. It has three components:

• Establishment of a Private-Sector HIV/AIDS Capital Fund that will accept donations from both Indian and U.S. companies;

• Expansion of HIV/AIDS Workplace Programs; and

• Increased access to safe, effective, quality anti-retroviral drugs, particularly for pediatric treatment.