A consortium of international agencies and the Clinton Foundation have developed a joint plan to purchase and distribute generic anti-HIV drugs and key HIV diagnostic tests to poorer countries hard-hit by HIV.
All countries that receive grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the World Bank to provide HIV treatment will now be able to take advantage of price reductions negotiated by the Clinton Foundation with generic drug manufacturers in South Africa and India, which could provide HAART for as little as $140 per person per year (less than half the price of the cheapest brand-name cut-price drugs). Up until now, low-cost drugs and diagnostic tests were available only to the few countries that had taken part in the planning processes for the scaling-up of ARV treatment with the Clinton Foundation, including Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa and the Caribbean states.
Delivery of antiretrovirals to patients in poor countries will be made possible by agencies contributing their particular strengths. UNICEF has agreed to deploy its procurement resources and the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are to provide the cash.
Cut price CD4 cell and HIV viral load testing kits will also be made available through the deal.
Although the Bush administration has committed itself to providing $7 billion over five years to provide HIV treatments in resource-limited countries, there has been dismay in some quarters after the US government appeared to be dragging its feet, calling into question the safety and efficacy of generics. It has also insisted that its aid money only be used to buy the cut-price drugs of the patent-holding pharmaceutical company. Even though these drugs are heavily discounted compared to prices in the US and Europe, they are still about twice as expensive as the drugs made available through the Clinton-brokered deal.