CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Former president Bill Clinton announced agreements with drug companies Tuesday to lower the price of so-called second-line AIDS drugs for people in the developing world and to make a once-a-day AIDS pill available for less than $1 a day. The second-line antiretroviral drugs--needed by patients who develop resistance to first-line treatment--currently cost 10 times as much as first-line therapy, Clinton said. Nearly half a million patients will require these drugs by 2010.
Clinton's foundation negotiated agreements with generic drug makers Cipla Ltd. and Matrix Laboratories Ltd. that he said would mean an average savings of 25% in low-income countries and 50% in middle-income countries. He said the companies collaborated with the foundation to lower production costs, in part by securing lower prices for raw materials.
The reduced-price, once-daily pill combines the drugs tenofovir, lamivudine, and efavirenz.
Clinton said the new price of $339 per patient per year would be 45% lower than the current rate available to low-income countries and 67% less than the price available to many middle-income countries.
''Seven million people in the developing world are in need of treatment for HIV/AIDS,'' Clinton said. ''We are trying to meet that need with the best medicine available today, and at prices that low- and middle-income countries can afford.''
The Clinton Foundation's activities are being financed by UNITAID, an organization 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.
''Every person living with HIV deserves access to the most effective medicines, and UNITAID aims to ensure that these are affordable for all developing countries,'' French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, chairman of UNITAID's board, said in a statement.
Since starting its HIV/AIDS Initiative in 2002, the Clinton Foundation has worked with 25 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia to set up AIDS treatment and prevention programs.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. (AP)
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms
May 12 2024 11:44 AM
Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62
April 27 2024 6:13 PM
Latest Stories
Nancy Pelosi endorses Kamala Harris for president
July 22 2024 4:07 PM
Charli XCX declares Kamala Harris IS brat & our next President's campaign agrees
July 22 2024 3:08 PM
Pete Buttigieg roasts JD Vance and his gay tech bro billionaire
July 22 2024 1:42 PM
The AIDs pandemic can be ended by 2030, but governments must act: report
July 22 2024 1:01 PM
Conservatives' first attack on Kamala Harris: Pronouns and accessibility?
July 22 2024 12:45 PM
Advancing equality during Disability Pride Month
July 22 2024 11:30 AM