[Ip-health] NYT-Clinton Group Gets Discount for AIDS Drugs

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The New York Times

October 24, 2003

Clinton Group Gets Discount for AIDS Drugs
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN

Former President Bill Clinton announced yesterday that his foundation had b=
rokered an agreement with four generic drug companies to cut the cost of ce=
rtain 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 Africa=
n and Caribbean countries where the Clinton Foundation H.I.V./AIDS Initiati=
ve 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. C=
linton 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 Glo=
bal 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 a=
re the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Organization of Eastern C=
aribbean States, which includes Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica, Grenada; Sai=
nt Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Montserrat=
, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. More than 90 percent of Caribbea=
n AIDS patients live in those places.

Mr. Clinton and AIDS experts on his staff have been working with the govern=
ment 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 d=
evelop 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 M=
atrix Laboratories of Hyderabad.

The initial agreement covers two commonly used combinations of first-line a=
ntiretroviral drugs: stavudine (d4T), lamivudine (3TC) and nevirapine; and =
AZT, lamivudine and nevirapine. Doctors Without Borders said the best price=
 for one combination =E2=80=94 lamividine, stavudine and nevirapine =E2=80=
=94 had been $255, but would now be $132 a patient a year.