New deal lowers Aids-drug costs

2008-04-28 21:11

Geneva - Two major organisations for access to Aids medication announced new deals on Monday with generic medicine manufacturers to reduce the price of second-line antiretroviral drugs.

Six new and more-affordable child-friendly formulations also would be made available under the new agreements, said the two organisations, UNitaid and the Clinton Foundation HIV/Aids Initiative.

Compared to prices they announced in May last year, the reduction would be as much as 19% for the most frequently used second-line treatment such as tenofovir, lamivudine and lopinavir/ritonavir.

The latest prices for a second-line regimen involving all three drugs are 16% lower than the average price in low-income countries and 46% lower than in middle-income countries.

Second-line treatments are necessary for patients who have developed a resistance to first-line treatments.

Six new formulations

They cost five to 10 times more than a first-line therapy in a low-income country, thereby limiting access for many patients in these countries.

Almost 500 000 patients will need such medication by 2010, according to the two organisations.

UNitaid, a United Nations-backed drugs funding initiative, also announced the extension of its paediatric project, with six new formulations which are more child-friendly.

Former president Bill Clinton, who launched the foundation, said: "Today's announcement is an important step in helping to save the millions of children and adults infected with HIV in the developing world who still lack access to life-saving drugs."

UNitaids's executive board chairperson Philippe Douste-Blazy added: "This achievement represents a major step in our partnership to provide more treatments to hundreds of thousands of children through to 2010 and to continue to lower the price of second-line treatment."

- AFP