Inbrief

Eight pharmaceutical companies have agreed to reduce the cost of their HIV/Aids drugs and diagnosis test packs in 50 developing countries after the intervention of former US president Bill Clinton. The companies are relatively small, compared with the large multinationals that have already announced similar low-cost drug offers. Four of them – Chembio (US), Orgenics (Israel), Qualpro Diagnostics (India), and Shanghai Kehua (China) – will halve the cost of their HIV diagnosis tests. The other four – Cipla, Ranbaxy, Strides Arcolab (all India) and Aspen Pharmacare (South Africa) – will offer their anti-retroviral drugs at 30 per cent below the market rate. The deal was struck through the Clinton Foundation (EP7, issue 6, p8).