Former United States President Bill Clinton announced an agreement on Thursday to cut prices of HIV/Aids treatments for children, making the life-saving drugs far more accessible worldwide.
Two Indian pharmaceutical companies have agreed to supply antiretroviral (ARV) formulations for HIV-positive children at prices as low as 16 US cents a day, or $60 annually, Clinton said in a speech at a New Delhi children’s hospital ahead of World Aids Day on Friday.
”This breakthrough is a great example of what we can do together. This is a great day, but we have a long way to go. We have to make a new commitment that every child and adult who needs treatment should have access” to the drugs, Clinton said.
Under the agreement, the two companies — Cipla and Ranbaxy Laboratories — will supply 19 different ARV formulations for prices that would be about 45% less than the lowest current rates for these drugs in developing countries, he said.
”Though the world has made progress in expanding HIV/Aids treatment to adults, children have been left behind. Only one in 10 children who needs treatment is getting it,” Clinton said.
In January, Clinton negotiated the reduction of prices of rapid HIV tests and anti-Aids drugs for adults. Several Indian firms were involved in that deal too.
UnitAid, the international drug-purchase facility established in September by France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the United Kingdom will help subsidise the programme.
Under the deal, UnitAid will provide $35-million and the Clinton Foundation HIV/Aids Initiative will contribute $15 million, which will enable an additional 100 000 HIV-positive children in 62 countries to receive treatment in 2007.
The drugs will be supplied to the national governments of these countries for distribution through their public health and HIV/Aids prevention programmes.
Clinton was speaking at the Kalawati Saran Hospital, one of New Delhi’s busiest hospitals for children, at the launch of a new national programme by the Indian government to treat HIV-positive children. India, with 5,7-million HIV-positive people, has the highest number of cases in the world.
The new deal will provide HIV treatment for 10 000 Indian children by March 2007 by adding paediatric care to all adult HIV and Aids treatment centres in the country.
”No child should have to live with HIV. Pediatric drugs should be affordable and easy to administer,” said France’s Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, chairman of UnitAid, who was present at the launch of the programme.
Lauding Clinton’s efforts in battling the disease, Sonia Gandhi, chief of the governing Congress party, said six of India’s 28 states have been seriously hit by HIV/Aids cases.
These include the north-eastern states of Nagaland and Manipur, where transmission was primarily through injected drug use, she said.
”The proximity to Burma, an important source of drugs, is a major contributing factor,” she said.
Getting infected by the human immunodeficiency virus can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a condition that results in a weakened immune system. There is currently no cure for the condition but ARVs help to suppress it, allowing sufferers to lead relatively normal lives. — Sapa-AP