Global Antiretroviralism

"With the establishment this year of the United Nations global fund for AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, the world will nearly double its AIDS spending in 2002 -- and for the first time, much of the money in less-developed countries will go to antiretrovirals. At the beginning of 2001, AIDS drugs in Kenya or Ukraine cost the same as in the United States -- upward of $10,000 a year. But practically every week this year has brought a giddy new price drop for the third world. One Indian generic drugmaker, Cipla, now offers its triple-combination therapy for $350 a year. Multinational pharmaceutical companies, responding to competition from generics and widespread public criticism, have slashed prices for poor nations to a little over $1,000 -- although so far, the companies have attached so many obstacles to their offer that few places have been able to benefit.

"A year ago, many argued that uneducated and unsophisticated patients could not master the complex antiretroviral regimen. Today, taking AIDS medicine is simpler -- most people on antiretrovirals take their pills only twice a day. This year has also seen the rise of small pilot clinics in poor nations, which have found inexpensive ways to treat people successfully, even in the most remote and miserable places. The campaign for antiretroviral treatment in the third world is no longer a battle of ideas; this year the world recognized that universal treatment is both imperative and feasible. What is left is the struggle for money. Until that is won, AIDS will remain treatable for the poor in theory alone."

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