Former US president Bill Clinton has announced that new deals have been struck with generic HIV/AIDS drug makers Cipla and Matrix to make 16 second line anti retroviral drugs (ARVs) and a new one a day pill available to 66 developing nations at significantly lower prices. The price reduction deals were brokered by the Clinton Foundation and will be financed by UNITAID, the international drug purchase facility established in 2006 by France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the UK using a creative airline ticket levy method of fund raising. The new deals will generate an average savings of 25 percent in low-income countries and 50 percent in middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and drugs will be bought through the Clinton Foundation's Procurement Consortium. President Clinton said yesterday at a press conference that 7 million people in the developing world need HIV/AIDS drugs: "We are trying to meet that need with the best Medicine available today, and at prices that low and middle income countries can afford. I applaud Cipla and Matrix for their commitment to lower the cost of new drugs at the forefront of the fight against AIDS, and I thank UNITAID for the funds that have enabled us to make these drugs widely available." French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, who chairs the UNITAID board, was also pleased with the new deal: "Every person living with HIV Infection deserves access to the most effective medicines, and UNITAID aims to ensure that these are affordable for all developing countries." I am pleased that our partnership with President Clinton is lowering the price of second-line treatment, and that the new prices will be available to low and middle income countries alike," he added. Second line drugs are for patients who have developed resistance to first line drugs. According to the Clinton Foundation, by 2010 nearly half a million people will need second line drugs, which currently cost about 10 times more than first line ones. The drugs will be bought by money from UNITAID, which has currently pledged to give the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) more than 100 million US dollars to buy second-line Medicines for 27 countries until the end of 2008. The new deals also include reduced prices for the "next generation" of first line treatment; a once a day pill made of the drugs tenofovir, lamivudine and efavirenz. An equivalent treatment has been available in the US since July last year and is regarded as the "gold standard" because of reduced side effects and much better outcomes compared to the current first line treatments used in the developing world. The new treatment will cost 339 US dollars per patient, which is 45 per cent less than the price of the current first line treatment in low income countries, including sub-Saharan Africa. And for many middle income countries this represents a price fall of 67 per cent. CHAI and UNITAID invited 15 drug makers nearly two months ago to put forward competitive proposals to supply second line drugs this year. Cipla and Matrix, a division of Mylan Laboratories, by working with CHAI have negotiation lower raw material prices and changed the way the drugs are made, resulting in an overall reduction in manufacturing cost. They will be selling the drugs on a cost plus, guaranteed purchase volume basis, this enabling CHAI to buy them with UNITAID money at a much lower price than usual. Other drug companies are also selected to supply drugs this year. These include: Abbott, Aurobindo, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Ranbaxy, and Aspen Pharmacare and IDS Group. Further price reductions are expected later this year when CHAI embarks on a similar competitive bidding and supplier selection campaign for next year. The Clinton Foundation was keen to emphasize that these deals are covered by the highest quality standards. The drugs that will be supplied under these agreements between the drug companies, CHAI and UNITAID will meet the quality standards of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

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