Deal inked with pharma cos to cut AIDS drugs price

NEW YORK: A new agreement has been clinched with pharmaceutical firms to substantially decrease the cost of treating AIDS in 66 countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean, former US President Bill Clinton, who is spearheading a campaign against the pandemic, has announced.

The agreements cover the second-line anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) - the drugs required for patients who develop resistance to first-line treatment. The second-line drugs are ten times more expensive than the first-line medicines.

The new agreements lower the prices of 16 formulations of ARVs that will generate an average savings of 25 per cent in low-income countries and 50 percent in middle-income countries. The drugs will be available through the Clinton Foundation's Procurement Consortium.

Citing the importance of keeping AIDS treatment affordable, Clinton also announced the "next generation" first-line treatment, taken once daily, is now less than 1 dollars under new agreements.

The equivalent product in the US, launched in July 2006, is widely perceived as a gold- standard treatment, as it offers greater convenience, fewer side effects, and improved treatment outcomes in comparison to the regimen used most commonly in developing countries.

Clinton was joined at the announcement by Thailand Minister of Health Mongkol Na Songkhla and Kenyan Minister of Health Charity Ngilu, who praised the Clinton Foundation for its efforts that have given Thailand, Kenya and dozens of other countries the opportunity to expand life-saving treatment and give thousands of people a chance at life.

UNAIDS and the Global Fund have come out in support of the new agreements.

"It can be hard to take AIDS drugs properly, and even when people do, they develop resistance over time, and need new medication," said Michael Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Today's announcement means progress on both: lower prices for state of the art once a day combinations, and lower prices for second-line treatment.

Thanks to the Clinton Foundation and UNITAID, developing countries and the Global Fund won't have to choose as much between continuing treatment for people who need new drugs, and putting new people on treatment. This means programmes supported by the Global Fund will be able to save more lives.