AIDS drug to the dollar

Existing AIDS drugs are usually very expensive. And their cost is the main obstacle to fighting the spread of AIDS in developing countries. But soon there may be antispidovye mixture at reduced prices. That proposal Sipla Indian Pharmaceutical Company Ltd has international charitable organization "Doctors without Borders" on the condition that those distributing the drugs simply free.

Humanitarian proposal from developing countries have constantly complained about the high cost of drugs against AIDS. Typically, the annual supply of medicine for one patient costs several thousand dollars.

The major pharmaceutical companies have agreed to grant patents on the production in the countries of Asia and Africa of cheaper versions of key drugs anti-AIDS. Now his company Sipla Ltd has even more radical initiative. "The commercial value of our products in India in per patient - 1,200 dollars a year, says CEO Hamid Yussuf. Governments, we offer them at the rate of $ 600 per patient. A "Doctors Without Borders" we have done this humanitarian proposal, we are ready to sell our AIDS drugs at a cost of $ 350 per patient, as long as they will distribute them for free. "

MSF agree

Such a proposal could save hundreds of thousands of lives - especially in Africa, where at least 25 million are suffering from human immunodeficiency virus. One of the leaders of "Doctors without Borders" Daniel Berman said that his organization would agree to the terms. "Certainly, we welcome the statement Sipla Ltd, it radically changes the situation. This means that AIDS treatment can be much higher. Two years ago, AIDS treatment was generally in the 12 to 15 thousand dollars per year per patient. Now, these drugs are much more accessible to us, and it also means that we can get a correlative grants from the UK and other European countries ". So MSF hoped that they would soon be able to provide essential drugs to AIDS dozens, or even hundreds of thousands of DEVELOPING countries in Africa and Asia.