About 100 noisy Aids activists carrying mock corpses disrupted a speech by the head of Pfizer, accusing multi-national drug firms of denying lifesaving drugs to HIV sufferers by charging inflated prices.

PFIZER has given a major boost to a UN campaign to eradicate an eye infection that causes blindness, by providing a free antibiotic to treat the 150 million people afflicted.

In a surprising blockbuster merger that would expand the reach of the world’s largest drug company, Pfizer has agreed to buy US rival Pharmacia for almost €60bn.