The Hindu Business Line : Clinton Foundation, Cipla pact to supply anti-AIDS drugs for children

THE Clinton Foundation has reached an agreement with Cipla and other partners on second line drugs which would comprise manufacturing of lower cost medicines for children affected by HIV infection.

This was disclosed by the former US President, Mr Bill Clinton, while talking to journalists informally at the end of his visit to the Cipla plant at Verna in South Goa on Saturday. The plant manufactures low cost anti AIDS/HIV medicines supplied along with other partners to over 52 countries directly and indirectly by Clinton Foundation.

The Chairman of Cipla, Mr Yusuf Hamied, and other top officials of the company were present. Mr Clinton also planted a Christmas plant sapling on the plant premises.

Describing his visit as "aimed at giving global publicity for Cipla so that maximum people get advantage of treatment through low cost medicines," Mr Clinton hoped that an interest would be built to "maximise impact of money being used appropriately."

He lauded Cipla's Goa plant as one of the most modern one and said that the Foundation has been in partnership with Cipla for contractual supplies for last three years. Cipla has been providing contractually "world's least costly first line drugs" of about $1.40 lakh every year to HIV/AIDS infected people in different countries.

"If all purchases are made from Cipla and other partners who produce low cost drugs, we can treat 3-4 times more people without any increase in funds," he said, while emphasising the endeavour to try and treat not only many people but also being cost effective.

Last year they treated one million people and expect to take it to 3 million by the end of this year, he said, expressing grave concern that over 5 million people die of the dreaded disease every year.

6 million need medicines: Elaborating on the dimension of the task on hand, Mr Clinton said that while around 6.2 million people needed these medicines, 1 to 1.5 million people were actually getting the medicines.

The stigma attached to the disease, lack of awareness, inability to universalise testing and inadequate networking of health care have been the biggest impediments in supplying medicines for the affected people even with the currently available resources for HIV/AIDS, he lamented.

Dwelling on the impact of stigma associated with AIDS, Mr Clinton said that of the around 40 million people affected by AIDS virus, most of them can lead a normal life if they get proper treatment but regretted that only around 10-15 per cent of them actually get medication.

While describing shortage of medical and paramedical personnel and support care system as one of the major problems in many of the countries, he pointed out that India was perhaps the only country where no shortage of doctors and paramedical staff was there even in rural areas.