[Ip-health] AP on GSK Aspen deal

[love@cptech.org]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2001/oct/07/100700482.html

 Today: October 07, 2001 at 14:45:20 PDT 

Generic AIDS Drug in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline
has granted a generic drug manufacturer a license to produce and market
three key AIDS medicines in South Africa, a Glaxo official said Sunday. 

Under the deal, to be officially announced Monday, the South African
company Aspen Pharmacare would be allowed to sell its versions of the
widely used AIDS drugs AZT, 3TC and Combivir to the public health system
and to nonprofit groups in South Africa, the official told The
Associated Press on condition of anonymity. 

The deal does not allow Aspen to sell the medicines to any other
countries in Africa. 

The issue of access to AIDS medication has grown since more than three
dozen drug companies, including Glaxo, sued the government of South
Africa over a law many said would allow the government to import or
produce generic versions of the drugs over the companies' objections. 

The companies dropped the suit in April under tremendous public
pressure. 

Before the agreement with Aspen, Glaxo was already offering its AIDS
drugs to South Africa's public health system at cost for about $2 a day
for Combivir, a combination of 3TC and AZT. But the government said that
even that price would bankrupt the health department. 

As part of the agreement, Glaxo and Shire Pharmaceuticals, which hold
the patents on the medicines, will charge a 30 percent licensing fee to
Aspen, South Africa's largest generic drug manufacturer. That money will
be earmarked for nonprofit organizations fighting HIV and AIDS, the
Glaxo official said. 

An estimated 4.7 million South Africans are HIV-positive - some 11
percent of the population. 

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