Clinton's deal with drug companies will save millions of lives and millions of dollars

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has struck a deal with nine drug companies to reduce the cost of the second-line AIDS drugs.

The drugs are needed to keep people alive once resistance to the medicines now being doled out in Africa has developed, and also for rapid HIV tests.

The William J. Clinton Foundation has already helped drive down the price of the basic three-drug cocktail that is now keeping more than a million people in Africa well.

Last week he announced an initiative with nine drug companies which he says will cut the cost of HIV/AIDS testing and treatment in 50 developing countries and help save hundreds of thousands of lives.

The agreement between the Clinton Foundation and the drug companies aims to halve the cost of HIV/AIDS diagnosis and lower the cost of second-line anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs by 30 percent or more.

It is estimated that as many as five million people with HIV/AIDS in developing countries are in urgent need of treatment.

Clinton says the deal is just the first step, and he expects to lower the cost of more second-line drugs later this year.

Clinton says although the deal with the nine smaller drug companies was a "step in the right direction" but he would like to see more of the world's biggest drug companies on board.

First-line drugs are used in the earliest stage of treatment, but when patients become resistant to first-line treatment, more-expensive second-line drugs are given.

Some quarter of a million people already benefit from first-line treatment resulting from Clinton Foundation agreements announced in 2003.

Clinton said up to 1 million people could receive first-line treatment at reduced cost through the new initiative by the end of the year.

It is expected that the health of those now on antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) will rapidly fail if the virus becomes resistant to the basic cocktail, as has happened in Europe and the United States.

The cost of first-line drug combinations is at present well under $200 per year per patient, but the second-line drugs can cost 10 times more.

Clinton says 40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS and 8,000 people die from the disease every day.

Four companies, - Chembio Diagnostics, Orgenics, a subsidiary of Inverness Medical Innovations, Qualpro Diagnostics and Shanghai Kehua, will all offer rapid HIV/AIDS testing at half the current cost and provide the results within 20 minutes.

Clinton believes that reducing the cost of the rapid tests could save millions of dollars over the next four years.

The generic companies companies, Cipla, Ranbaxy, Strides Arcolab and Aspen Pharmacare, are prepared to offer the first-line drug Efavirenz, with ingredients supplied by Matrix Laboratories, at below-market rates.

Cipla will also provide the second-line drug Abacavir at a reduced cost.

Mr Clinton said the two drugs would come down in price, Efavirenz to $240 per patient per year from $367, and Abacavir to $427 from as much as $705.

Clinton says the drug firms involved will lower drugs costs by improving and modernizing the production process, moving production to countries with lower labor costs and reducing profit margins while increasing the volume of output.

Apparently over 90 percent of HIV carriers in Africa are unaware they are infected, so raising AIDS awareness is a fundamental priority, says Clinton.

It is estimated that there were 3 million new infections just last year.

Clinton cited the African country Lesotho, where every child under the age of 12 is now being tested, as an example of the progress that has been made in raising AIDS awareness.

The Clinton Foundation provides access to reduced prices for drugs and testing in 50 developing countries, and works with directly with 20 governments in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia in the fight against the disease.