India Will Continue to Produce Generic HIV Drugs, Commerce and Industry Minister Says

"India will not compromise on drug licensing norms and [will] continue to produce generic drugs for free treatment to HIV-positive patients, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said" on Wednesday, the IANS/Times of India reports.

"To make them available to all countries, India will also use the flexibilities allowed under TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) to ensure that people living with HIV have access to all life-saving medicines," Sharma said, the newspaper adds (7/6).

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe "welcomed the announcement that India would continue to make generic drugs to combat the disease and said the decision will save millions of lives," according to the U.N. News Centre. "India, together with Brazil, South Africa, China and Russia, must forge an alliance with other high-income countries to ensure that no single person in the world dies because they could not afford to buy life-saving medicines or health care," Sidibe said (7/6).