African Aids drug plan faces collapse

[Chicago Democrat]

Alison Langley in Geneva
Sunday March 14, 2004
The Observer

A United Nations plan to provide three million HIV-infected patients in Africa with anti-retroviral drugs by 2005 is in danger of collapsing owing to lack of funds, UN and World Health Organisation officials said.
Some countries, particularly the United States, are balking at supporting the project, Aids workers say, partly because the plan intends to use a form of medicine called fixed-dose combination antiretroviral drugs whose use is opposed by large pharmaceutical companies.

(snip)

Aids activists say money isn't forthcoming because of WHO support of the use of combination medicines. Called fixed-dose medicines, these drugs combine two or more active ingredients in one pill, thereby reducing the number of tablets an AIDS patient must swallow each day.

Fixed-dose drugs are also cheaper. Taking two fixed-dose combination pills a day for a year costs $140 per patient, compared to about $600 per year for six pills per day.

Rest at...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1169197,00.html

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Aids in Africa is so SOTU 2002.

We are now onto steroids in sports.

I haven't seen any hydrogen cars, either.

I would say that I'm shocked by the Bush administration's stance on this, but I'm not. I'm just saddened.

[whistle]

2. Uhmmmmm.........

...another BushCo/Dupya promise bites the dust when it comes to putting the cash where the mouth was:wow:

[Chicago Democrat]

3. It was always just a welfare plan for his pharmacuetical

buddies. An opportunitiy for them to pawn off overpriced crap on the natives.

[Earth_First]

4. I'd like to say that this surprises me...

but sadly, it does not.