Clinton launches child HIV drugs

A foundation headed by Bill Clinton has negotiated a deal to make HIV/Aids treatment cheaper for children, the former US president has announced.

Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation have been working hard to lower the price of HIV drugs for quite some time now.

One of the drugs, made by leading Indian pharmaceutical companies, Cipla and Ranbaxy, is described as a “new child-friendly product” and will cost less than $60 per year per child.

The international drug-buying facility, Unitaid, set up by France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the UK, is subsidising the programme by $35m, the Clinton Foundation says.

The main problem is fighting Big Pharma who refuses to do anything that would help; like allowing the Indian companies to manufacture generic copies of their HIV drugs at lower prices.

The drug companies were dead-set against such an outcome, which could lead to Third World countries producing their own versions of patented drugs and could lose them billions of dollars of revenue. Through the US Trade Representative, they countered with a weak declaration that WTO members can only “use, to the full, the provisions in the TRIPS Agreement which provide flexibility to address public health crises such as HIV/AIDS and other pandemics”.

That was written back in 2001. Why do I get the feeling that corporations who only care about profits will be what destroy this world?

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