Twenty Pharma Companies Included in 2008 Index

Haarlem - The Access to Medicine Foundation has completed its selection of the twenty pharmaceutical companies whose efforts to improve global access to medicines will be assessed in the 2008 Index.

The list was compiled predominantly on the basis of companies' market capitalization and thus includes all the world's major drug makers. Some biotech companies and generics producers have also been included to provide for a more balanced sample of biotech, generics and research-based pharma sectors.

The Access to Medicine Foundation intends to follow a similar model in 2009 while including more companies overall. This way, extra focus will be on emerging market pharmaceutical manufacturers.

2008 Company List: (in alphabetical order)

Abbott Laboratories Inc
Astrazeneca PLC
Bayer Schering Pharma AG
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
Cipla Limited
Eli Lilly & Company
Gilead Sciences Inc
GlaxoSmithKline PLC
Johnson & Johnson
Merck & Company Inc
Merck Kgaa AG
Novartis AG
Novo Nordisk A/S
Pfizer Inc
Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited
Roche Holdings Limited (Genentech)
Sanofi-Aventis
Schering-Plough Corp.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited
Wyeth