South Africa's ruling party has accused top US officials of treating Africans like guinea pigs amid questions over testing of a key HIV/AIDS drug before a US-backed roll-out of the treatment across the continent.
The African National Congress (ANC) said on its website US health officials had "conspired" with German drug firm Boehringer Ingelheim to hide adverse effects of nevirapine when used to try to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.
Media reports have suggested tests on the drug's use with pregnant women in Uganda were flawed and that single-dose treatments of nevirapine could result in future drug resistance.
The United States has denied the charges and said while there were some procedural problems with the tests the results pointing to a dramatic reduction of HIV transmission were sound.
But the ANC issued a strong response late on Friday saying President Bush and his government, which distributed the drug across Africa in a high-profile gesture of support for the AIDS-ravaged continent, must be "held accountable" for inaction.
"(US officials) entered into a conspiracy with a pharmaceutical company to tell lies to promote the sales of nevirapine in Africa, with absolutely no consideration of the health impact of those lies on the lives of millions of Africans," the ANC said in its weekly newsletter.
Quoting reports by the news agency Associated Press, which first ran the story, the ANC said top officials at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had arranged to pull a US application for the drug once concerns were raised.
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