E-DRUG: Brazil to make cheap Aids drugs in Africa
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[this article from Business Report, South Africa. Copied as fair use. WB]
By Ren�e Bonorchis
Lusaka - Brazil would build three plants to manufacture cheap anti-Aids
drugs in Africa, offering a lifeline to millions of sufferers on the
continent, a senior African diplomat said on Friday.
Amara Essy, the interim chairman of the commission of the African Union
(AU), said the organisation had reached an agreement with Brazil. Only
technical details remained to be worked out.
Brazil has been hailed as a pioneer in copying anti-Aids drugs, to the ire
of the pharmaceutical industry. It is considered a model in the fight
against Aids, having kept HIV infections to less than 1 percent of its
population.
"We would like them [Brazil] to build three companies ... one in north
Africa, another in the centre of the continent and one in southern Africa,"
Essy told a news conference in Lusaka.
Africa is home to more than 70 percent of the estimated 42 million people
worldwide infected with HIV, the virus that causes the deadly disease.
Experts say the average life expectancy in some countries will drop below
40 years by 2010, with infection rates in some cases exceeding 30 percent.
Hunger and poverty have exacerbated the pandemic and most Africans cannot
afford life-prolonging antiretroviral drug cocktails.
"Millions of people are dying and unless we tackle this problem,
development will be hindered," Essy said. "We need billions of dollars ...
and many countries cannot afford the ... drugs.
In Brazil an aggressive prevention campaign, combined with negotiating
better drug prices by threatening to issue compulsory licences overriding
trademarks, has slashed Aids mortalities.
Last year Brazil said it wanted to share its generic antiretrovirals and
manufacturing technology.
Essy said AU officials would meet Brazilian officials in April to discuss
the plans.
The AU would work out a mechanism within its six regional trade blocs to
pool resources and source cheaper Aids drugs.
"The answer ... is to work together as Africans to find a lasting
solution," Essy said. "We are encouraging countries to work together in
fighting Aids." - Reuters
Published on the web by the Business Report on March 31, 2003.
� Business Report 2003. All rights reserved.
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