May 8, 2007 7:46 am US/Central
Clinton Announces Developing-World AIDS Drug Deals
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Since starting its HIV/AIDS Initiative in 2002, the Clinton Foundation has worked with 25 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia to set up AIDS treatment and prevention programs. (File)
CBS
Former President Bill Clinton announced agreements with drug companies to lower the price of so-called "second-line" AIDS drugs in the developing world. The deal will make a once-a-day AIDS pill available for less than $1 dollar a day.
Second-line anti-retroviral drugs are needed by patients who develop a resistance to first-line treatment and currently cost 10 times as much as first-line therapy.
Clinton said that nearly half a million patients will require these drugs by 2010.
The foundation negotiated agreements with generic drug makers Cipla and Matrix.
Clinton said "no company will live or die because of high price premiums for AIDS drugs in middle-income countries, but patients may."
The Clinton Foundation's activities are being financed by UNITAID, an organization of 20 nations that have earmarked part of their airline tax revenues for HIV/AIDS programs in developing countries.
UNITAID will give the foundation more than $100 (M) million to buy second-line medicines for 27 countries through 2008.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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