Leslie
10-24-2003, 09:27 AM
October 24, 2003
Clinton Group Gets Discount for AIDS Drugs
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
Former President Bill Clinton announced yesterday that his foundation had brokered an agreement with four generic drug companies to cut the cost of certain AIDS antiretroviral drugs by about a third, and in one case, by about half, for distribution in poor countries.
Under the agreement, combinations of three drugs will be provided in African and Caribbean countries where the Clinton Foundation H.I.V./AIDS Initiative is trying to establish countrywide health care, treatment and prevention programs.
The goal is to provide the drugs to up to two million people by 2008, Mr. Clinton said in making the announcement at a news conference at his offices in Harlem. He said his foundation would work with other organizations like the World Health Organization, President Bush's AIDS initiative and the Global Fund.
The countries in Africa are Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania, which have about one-third of all AIDS cases there. The Caribbean nations are the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, which includes Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica, Grenada; Saint Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. More than 90 percent of Caribbean AIDS patients live in those places.
Mr. Clinton and AIDS experts on his staff have been working with the government of South Africa. For years, the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and his top aides have resisted national programs to provide antiretroviral drugs. But in August, the government changed its stand and said it would develop a plan to deliver the drugs this fall.
The companies are Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. of Johannesburg, and three from India, Cipla Lts. of Mumbai, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. of Delhi and Matrix Laboratories of Hyderabad.
The initial agreement covers two commonly used combinations of first-line antiretroviral drugs: stavudine (d4T), lamivudine (3TC) and nevirapine; and AZT, lamivudine and nevirapine. Doctors Without Borders said the best price for one combination — lamividine, stavudine and nevirapine — had been $255, but would now be $132 a patient a year.
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Clinton Group Gets Discount for AIDS Drugs
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
Former President Bill Clinton announced yesterday that his foundation had brokered an agreement with four generic drug companies to cut the cost of certain AIDS antiretroviral drugs by about a third, and in one case, by about half, for distribution in poor countries.
Under the agreement, combinations of three drugs will be provided in African and Caribbean countries where the Clinton Foundation H.I.V./AIDS Initiative is trying to establish countrywide health care, treatment and prevention programs.
The goal is to provide the drugs to up to two million people by 2008, Mr. Clinton said in making the announcement at a news conference at his offices in Harlem. He said his foundation would work with other organizations like the World Health Organization, President Bush's AIDS initiative and the Global Fund.
The countries in Africa are Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania, which have about one-third of all AIDS cases there. The Caribbean nations are the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, which includes Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica, Grenada; Saint Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. More than 90 percent of Caribbean AIDS patients live in those places.
Mr. Clinton and AIDS experts on his staff have been working with the government of South Africa. For years, the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and his top aides have resisted national programs to provide antiretroviral drugs. But in August, the government changed its stand and said it would develop a plan to deliver the drugs this fall.
The companies are Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. of Johannesburg, and three from India, Cipla Lts. of Mumbai, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. of Delhi and Matrix Laboratories of Hyderabad.
The initial agreement covers two commonly used combinations of first-line antiretroviral drugs: stavudine (d4T), lamivudine (3TC) and nevirapine; and AZT, lamivudine and nevirapine. Doctors Without Borders said the best price for one combination — lamividine, stavudine and nevirapine — had been $255, but would now be $132 a patient a year.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | Help | Back to Top