Annan welcomes pact on lowering AIDS drug prices in developing countries

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan today welcomed an agreement between former President Bill Clinton's foundation and four pharmaceutical companies in developing countries to halve the price of anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS and he said he hoped other drug manufactures would follow suit.

The price reductions by the four companies "will not only make HIV treatment more affordable to many of those who could previously not afford them, they should also act as a further incentive for Governments, particularly in countries heavily affected by HIV/AIDS, to establish national treatment plans as part of their comprehensive prevention and care emergency strategies," Mr. Annan's spokesman told a news briefing.

"The Secretary-General hopes the initiative will encourage other pharmaceutical manufacturers to review their pricing policies and evaluate what further price reductions they can make to render these vital medicines more accessible to those who need them most," spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

According to the Clinton Foundation, the four manufacturers in the agreement are Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. of Johannesburg, South Africa, Cipla Ltd. of Mumbai, India, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. of Delhi, India, and Matrix Laboratories of Hyderabad, India. The annual cost of drugs for each infected person is expected to fall to as little as $140.

Mr. Annan said he trusted that a synergy would be created between the initiative launched by the Clinton Foundation and such efforts as President Bush's Emergency AIDS Plan, the project by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS to treat 3 million people by 2005 and the work of a public-private partnership called the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.