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Roche, one of the world's largest international pharmaceuticals groups, has decided to abandon research on medicines to treat HIV in a significant blow to doctors treating the spiralling international Aids epidemic.

In a memo circulated this week to Aids specialists and activists, executives said because of disappointing results in clinical trials, the company had cancelled its programme for the compounds in development that were targeting two different ways to attack HIV.

"While we had initially been hopeful about their potential, we now have concluded that none would provide a true incremental benefit for patients compared to medicines currently on the market," said Jenny Edge-Dallas, global leader for Roche's HIV Franchise.

The move reflects Roche's decision to focus only on medicines that provide a significant improvement to existing rival drugs available in the market at a time of growing demand for value for money from governments and healthcare systems.

It marks an important setback for hopes of future treatment given the need to develop drugs as the rapidly rising number of existing HIV patients develop resistance to existing medicines.

Genevieve Edwards, from the Terrence Higgins Trust, the UK Aids charity, said: "That's extremely disappointing news. HIV is the fastest-growing serious health condition in the UK and it remains life-threatening. One drug absolutely does not fit all for HIV."

While Roche, which is based in Switzerland, is not one of the largest producers of HIV medicines, it has been an important innovator in the field, launching three medicines in the past.

The economics of the HIV market are complex in part because there are many different combinations of drugs, and much of the demand for medicines is coming from low-income countries with limited ability to pay.

Roche's three medicines - Fuzeon, Viracept and Invirase - represented only about SFr160m ($157m) in sales last year, giving it a far smaller share of global sales than drugs from rivals including Gilead, BristolMyers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline.

The company stressed that it would continue to manufacture the medicines, as well as diagnostics for HIV and other treatments for conditions with which HIV patients are often infected.