New Delhi: Former US president Bill Clinton's foundation has struck a deal with drug companies to slash the price of drugs to treat HIV AIDS.
The most effective three-drug "cocktail" will now be available in a single pill and will cost less than a dollar.
Nearly half a million patients, who develop resistance to first-line treatment and currently cost 10 times as much as first-line therapy, will require anti-retroviral drugs by 2010, informed Clinton.
Clinton Foundation negotiated agreements with generic drug makers Cipla Ltd and Matrix Laboratories Ltd that he said would mean an average savings of 25 per cent in low-income countries and 50 per cent in middle-income countries.
Clinton said the companies collaborated with the foundation to lower production costs, in part by securing lower prices for raw materials.
"We started out with the traditional first line drugs at $500, we got it down to $130. Now, sometimes, we buy in big volumes that are just barely above $100," said Clinton.
"We started with children drugs at $600, we got it down to $190. Now, because they have fewer elements in them, they are smaller, we got them all the way down to $60 a person a year."
"So, I think the price will just keep dropping," he added.
The Clinton Foundation's activities are being financed by UNITAID, an organisation formed by France and 19 other nations that have earmarked a small portion of their airline tax revenues for HIV/AIDS programs in developing countries.
UNITAID will provide the foundation with more than $100 million to buy second-line medicines for 27 countries through 2008.
The foundation also provides access to lower-priced AIDS drugs in 65 countries. Some 750,000 people are now receiving AIDS drugs purchased through the Clinton Foundation.
(With inputs from AP)
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