Copyright 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
May 12, 2000, Friday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A7
LENGTH: 381 words
HEADLINE:
COMPANIES OFFER TO CUT PRICES OF AIDS DRUGS IN
AFRICA
BYLINE: The Associated Press
DATELINE: GENEVA
BODY:
Five pharmaceutical companies announced Thursday that they would
slash the cost of HIV and AIDS drugs in African and other poor
nations, which have complained that they are priced out of treating the epidemic
ravaging their populations.
The announcement received a cautious welcome
from the government of South Africa and the medical
aid group Doctors Without Borders, although they expressed
concern about the possibility of strings being attached to the offer.
The companies made their announcement a day after President Bill Clinton
signed an executive order making it easier for African nations to get access to
cheaper drugs. The order backs off patent enforcement that could stop them from
getting generic versions of U.S.-made HIV and AIDS medicines.
Health workers have regularly complained that the high cost of patented
AIDS drugs in effect has blocked patients from getting the care
they need in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 80 percent of the
world's HIV-positive population.
In Thursday's announcement, the two
U.S. and three European companies said they were joining together to work with
governments and agencies in developing countries to reduce the price of the
drugs.
Only one company, Britain's Glaxo Wellcome, was ready to announce
what it would offer. Ben Plumley, a spokesman, said the two-drug package
Combivir would be made available at a cost of $ 2 a day. It sells in the United
States for $ 16.50, although it is somewhat cheaper in developing nations.
The other companies involved in the venture are Germany's Boehringer
Ingelheim, Roche of Switzerland, Bristol-Myers Squibb of New York, and Merck and
Co. of Whitehouse Station, N.J.
They will work with five agencies -
UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the U.N. Population Fund
and the U.N. Children's Fund.
South Africa said it was
worried that the companies might attach conditions to their offers, particularly
that governments not pursue importing cheaper, generic versions of the drugs.
"If this offer is attached to a condition that governments like South
Africa should not pursue generic substitution, parallel
importing and compulsory licensing, then it is not genuine and
unacceptable," said Patricia Lambert, spokeswoman for the Health Ministry.
LOAD-DATE: May 12, 2000 
