{"id":124,"date":"2006-11-30T16:36:37","date_gmt":"2006-11-30T21:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/2006\/11\/30\/clinton-foundation-brokers-deal-t"},"modified":"2007-01-16T20:14:07","modified_gmt":"2007-01-17T01:14:07","slug":"clinton-foundation-brokers-deal-to-lower-drug-prices-for-tots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/2006\/11\/30\/clinton-foundation-brokers-deal-to-lower-drug-prices-for-tots\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinton Foundation brokers deal to lower drug prices for tots"},"content":{"rendered":"

This, in the NY Times<\/a>, about Clinton’s efforts to drive down drug prices for ARV therapy for kids. Got to hand it to the ex-Pres, he’s trying to make amends for having done so little as President:<\/p>\n

MUMBAI, Nov. 30 \u2014 The cost of treating children infected with H.I.V. and AIDS is poised to plummet next year, under a deal announced today between two Indian drugmakers and former President Bill Clinton\u2019s foundation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cipla and Ranbaxy Laboratories agreed to make 19 different anti-retroviral drugs designed for children available to 62 developing countries at an average price of $60 a year, which is less than half of the lowest current price, the Clinton Foundation said in a statement. Because not everyone has access to the lowest current price, the plan will actually translate into a four- to six-fold cost reduction for many children, said Stephen Lewis, the United Nations special envoy for H.I.V. and AIDS in Africa.<\/p>\n

A $35 million grant from Unitaid, a drug-buying consortium formed in September by France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the United Kingdom, will be combined with $15 million from the Clinton Foundation to assure the Indian drugmakers a volume of sales high enough to justify the lower prices.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, there is a worry that the ability for generic firms to make these kinds of contributions may slow as India firms up its intellectual property rights laws:<\/p>\n

Indian drug companies were able to produce the special pediatric drugs because they mixed together a customized combination of chemicals invented by Western companies but never patented under India\u2019s once-lax intellectual-property protections. Yet India has recently changed its patent rules, under its World Trade Organization commitments, so as to protect Western innovations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thailand, however, has announced it is breaking a patent on an expensive second-line<\/strike> ARV drug (Efavirenz apparently<\/a> isn’t a second-line drug but a first line drug that replaces nevirapine because of its side effects) because it is encountering drug resistance. Stay tuned. The Center for Global Development has also posted on this<\/a>, suggesting the Thai government’s action may embolden others.<\/p>\n

Health officials in Thailand announced on Wednesday that they would break a patent on the AIDS drug Efavirenz and make generic copies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Efavirenz is a second-line AIDS treatment, made for those immune to the first generation of AIDS drugs, and it is substantially more expensive than first-line drugs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This, in the NY Times, about Clinton’s efforts to drive down drug prices for ARV therapy for kids. Got to hand it to the ex-Pres, he’s trying to make amends for having done so little as President: MUMBAI, Nov. 30 \u2014 The cost of treating children infected with H.I.V. and AIDS is poised to plummet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":710,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1111,1107,1110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ngos-and-ios","category-politics-and-policy","category-science-and-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/politicshiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}