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Cut-price Aids drugs for SA
24/10/2003 07:22 - (SA)
New York - A South African company is among four generic-drug companies that will provide low-cost Aids drugs to several nations in Africa and the Caribbean, said former president Bill Clinton, announcing an agreement brokered by his foundation.
The plan will cut the price of a triple-drug regimen in those countries to about 38 US cents (about R2.70) a day, Clinton said on Thursday at a media conference.
"This agreement will allow the delivery of lifesaving medicines to people who desperately need them," Clinton said.
"It represents a big breakthrough in our efforts to begin treatment programmes in places where, until now, there has been virtually no medicine and therefore no hope."
Under the deal brokered by the William J Clinton Presidential Foundation, a South African and three Indian drug companies will cut the price of their Aids drugs for distribution in South Africa, Rwanda, Mozambique, Tanzania, and several Caribbean nations.
The South African firm is Aspen Pharmacare (APN).
Stephen Saad, Aspen group chief executive, said the company was enhancing its manufacturing facilities with the addition of a new multimillion-rand oral solid-dosage manufacturing facility to service domestic and offshore markets.
The pharmaceutical companies and Clinton advisers have worked on ways to cut costs and reduce drug prices, and the foundation has collaborated with governments of the African and Caribbean nations on feasible ways to fund Aids treatment.
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit nations by HIV/Aids, with about 4.7 million, about 11% of the population, infected with the virus.
The foundation has also helped nations prepare for introducing the drugs into their health systems. The plans are intended to make the drugs more readily available to people with Aids.
To pay for the drugs, and for improvements in the countries' health systems, Clinton has secured partial funding by lobbying wealthier nations, including Ireland and Canada.
Ireland has committed $58.3m over five years, mainly to Mozambique.
The four African nations have each secured additional funds from other sources, including the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
- AP
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