|
|
|
2007-8-31 17:54:32 |
|
President Bill Clinton announced today that Cipla and Matrix, two Indian generic drug manufacturers, agreed to cut the price of AIDS treatment for second line anti-retroviral drugs (ARVS) as well as a new once-a-day pill that is used as a fist-line treatment, which is "currently cost prohibitive in the developing world". To make the lower priced treatment available to the AIDS patients in the developing world, the Clinton Foundation’s Procurement Consortium agreed to use funds from UNITAID and promised that the foundation would purchase these drugs in large volumes to help reduce the cost. UNITAID, the international drug purchase facility established in 2006 by France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the UK will provide the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) with more than $100 million to buy second-line antiviral drugs for 27 countries through 2008. Based on the agreements, 16 formulations of ARVS will be made available at reduced prices to patients in 66 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. “Seven million people in the developing world are in need of treatment for HIV/AIDS,? said President Clinton. “We are trying to meet that need with the best medicine available today, and at prices that low and middle income countries can afford." The prices of the second-line drugs were so reduced that on average 25 percent of the cost can be saved in the low income countries, compared to 50 percent 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 a half million patients will require these drugs by 2010," according to a statement released by the Clinton Foundation today. In addition, President Clinton also announced that the price for a next generation first-line treatment, a once-a-day pill, was also reduced. This treatment is used along with the drugs tenofovir, lamivudine and efavirenz. The equivalent treatment was launched in July 2006 in the U.S. and has now widely accepted as the gold-standard treatment. The treatment, which offers more convenience and fewer side effects compared to others, is to be sold at $339 per patient per year. That is a 45 percent reduction in low income countries including those in sub-Saharan Africa and a 67 percent reduction in many middle income countries. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, chairman of the UNITAID board, said “Every person living with HIV deserves access to the most effective medicines, and UNITAID aims to ensure that these are affordable for all developing countries." Douste-Blazy added "I am pleased that our partnership with President Clinton is lowering the price of second-line treatment, and that the new prices will be available to low and middle income countries alike.? |
