[Ip-health] Reuters: S.African Govt. Says Key Anti-AIDS Drug Too Costly

[Mike Palmedo]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011127/wl/aids_safrica_dc_1.html

Tuesday November 27 11:11 AM ET 

S.African Govt. Says Key Anti-AIDS Drug Too Costly
By Wambui Chege

PRETORIA, South Africa (Reuters) - The South African government, under
heavy pressure to provide a key antiretroviral drug to pregnant mothers
with HIV (news - web sites)-AIDS (news - web sites), said Tuesday it
could not afford to provide the treatment nationwide.

AIDS activists and doctors this week took the government to court in a
bid to force it to provide the drug nevirapine which cuts the risk of
pregnant women passing the deadly disease to their babies.

Government lawyers said Tuesday such a program would paralyze its public
health system as South Africa had more people living with HIV-AIDS than
any other country. It also had doubts about the efficacy of nevirapine.

The drug was offered to the government free for five years by German
pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim last year.

``The government has stated on oath it does not have the resources.
(Lack of resources) plays a major role, but one cannot exclude studies
of resistance, long term efficacy and safety,'' Marumo Moerane, lawyer
for the government, told the court.

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