Peter Mugyenyi joins Cipla board

Dr Peter Mugyenyi, author of Genocide by Denial: How Profiteering from HIV/AIDS Killed Millions (2008) has joined the board of Cipla as an independent director. The widely known book details how  western governments and drug companies as the book puts it "callously oversaw the death of millions of Africans who were unable to afford their branded drugs". Dr Mugyenyi's appointment is not surprising.

Over a decade ago, Yusuf Khwaja Hamied, Cipla chairman, jolted the global pharma industry with his offer to sell anti-AIDS drugs at less than four per cent of the price charged by international drugmakers. Against $12,000 needed for a year's AIDS treatment in the West at the time, the drug Cipla provided cost $300 annually - less than a dollar a day.

In a statement issued by the company on Wednesday (February 12) announcing the appointment on Wednesday, Hamied is quoted as saying: "Dr. Mugyenyi will be a source of inspiration for us, someone who can also guide us in our journey towards our vision of 'None shall be denied'."  Dr Mugyenyi is described as one who "played a major consultative role in the formulation of the PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief) programme, which was announced in the 2003 State of the Union address by President George W. Bush." PEPFAR has since put millions of Africans on lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment. Dr Mugyenyi, a pediatrician by training, is currently Director and Co-Founder of the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) in Kampala, Uganda.