Uganda begins production of $9 per month ARVs
From the KaiserNetwork.org
A pharmaceutical plant in Uganda this week will begin production of generic antiretroviral drugs following an order from the Ugandan
government for drugs worth 17 billion Ugandan shillings, or about $10 million, the East African Business Week reports (Etyang, East African Business Week, 1/28).
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in October 2007 commissioned the 15-acre pharmaceutical plant, which will produce triple-therapy combination antiretroviral and first-line malaria treatments. Ugandan pharmaceutical importer Quality Chemical Industries and Indian
pharmaceutical company Cipla will produce the drugs. The factory will manufacture the antiretroviral combination therapy Triomune, which contains lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine. In addition, the factory will produce the first-line antimalarial combination treatment Lumartem, which contains artemisinin and lumefantrin (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/26/07)…
…According to the Business Week, about 100,000 Ugandans currently have access to no-cost antiretroviral treatment, but about
238,000 people in the country are expected to need the drugs by 2012. In 2005, about 42% of people in need of antiretrovirals had access to them, according to statistics (East African Business Week, 1/28).
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I think we have reached a high point in funding for HIV, there seems to be this weird growing consensus that we should be rededicating money elsewhere. I think we need to increase funding for scientific research certainly but not cut from existing programs if they are producing results. The boom to treatment for HIV has added many years to many peoples lives.