Permission
sought to copy AIDS drugsPermission
sought to copy AIDS drugs
Date accessed: 23 May 2001
POSTED AT 2:49 AM EDT Thursday, May 17
Cape Town — South Africa's largest generic drug manufacturer said Wednesday it would seek permission from five of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to make cheaper copies of their patented AIDS medications.
While several major drug companies have recently slashed prices in the face of mounting global pressure, the drugs remain too expensive for many developing countries, where 90 per cent of the world's more than 36 million AIDS victims live.
However, officials at the South African drug manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare say they can supply high quality generic equivalents of several AIDS drugs for significantly less than the patent holders' discounted price.
Aspen has already procured raw materials from India used in the generic equivalents of 14 AIDS drugs and is busy testing them. It does not intend to begin manufacturing unless the patent holders agree to give the company a license to produce the drugs, said Vikash Salig, Aspen's new business development director.
"We respect intellectual property rights," he said.
Aspen has asked New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb for permission to produce its patented AIDS medication, and intends to ask the same of Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche of Switzerland, Merck & Co. of New Jersey, and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, Salig said.
Robert Lefebvre, Bristol-Myers' senior director for project access, said his company was open to negotiating licensing agreements, but Aspen had yet to approach it formally.
Several major drug companies have voiced reservations about giving generic manufacturers permission to make their medications, saying their large factories enable them to produce more cheaply than small, local operations.
Aspen's move is a challenge to Bristol-Myers Squibb to prove its stated commitment to helping fight AIDS in poor countries, said Mark Heywood, head of the AIDS Law Project at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Aspen has the capacity to supply enough drugs to treat millions of AIDS sufferers within months, Mr. Salig said. Aspen has two manufacturing plants in South Africa and currently exports to 30 countries.
The South African government would welcome any agreement between local and international firms that would increase access to medication, said Jo-Anne Collinge, a spokeswoman for the health department.
An estimated 4.7 million South Africans are HIV-positive, some 11 per cent of the population.
The government has declined to make AIDS drugs widely available through the public health system, saying they are too expensive and their safety has yet to be proven.
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