Pharma

16 AIDS Medicines' Prices to be Slashed

The Clinton Foundation recently announced new agreements with generic drug manufacturers Cipla and Matrix for significantly lowering the price of AIDS treatment for second-line anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), as well as a new, once-a-day pill that is currently cost prohibitive in the developing world.

These agreements lower the prices for 16 formulations of ARVs, which will be available to 66 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean through the Clinton Foundation's Procurement Consortium.

"Seven million people in the developing world are in need of treatment for HIV/AIDS," said Bill Clinton.

The Clinton Foundation negotiated new prices for second-line drugs that will generate an average avings of 25 per cent in low-income countries and 50 per cent in middle-income countries. Second-line treatment is required in patients who develop resistance to first-line treatment and currently costs 10 times the price of first-line therapy.

Nearly, half a million patients will require these drugs by 2010. These price reductions have been made possible by UNITAID, the international drug purchase facility established in 2006 by France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the UK.

UNITAID will provide the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) with more than $100 million to buy second-line medicines for 27 countries through 2008.

EH News Bureau