Clinton Makes A Deal For AIDS Patients

Former President Bill Clinton and two Indian pharmaceutical companies have struck an agreement to cut prices of HIV and AIDS treatment for children, making the lifesaving drugs far more accessible worldwide.

That's according to the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, a charity set up by Mr. Clinton, which says the companies will supply drugs for HIV-positive children at prices as low as 16 cents a day, which amounts to less than $60 a year.

The foundation says the deal will enable an additional 100,000 HIV-positive children in 62 countries to receive treatment in 2007.

Mr. Clinton was to announce the deal in a speech at a New Delhi children's hospital Thursday at the launch of a new national program by the Indian government to treat HIV-positive children. World AIDS Day is Friday.

Under the agreement, the two companies - Cipla Ltd. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. - will supply 19 different antiretroviral formulations for prices about 45 percent less than the lowest current rates for these drugs in developing countries.

"Though the world has made progress in expanding HIV/AIDS treatment to adults, children have been left behind. Only one in 10 children who needs treatment is getting it," said Mr. Clinton, in a statement.

In January, the former president negotiated the reduction of prices of rapid HIV tests and anti-AIDS drugs for adults. Several Indian firms were involved in that deal, too.

Under the deal, countries including France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and Britain will provide $35 million and the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative will contribute $15 million.

The drugs will be supplied to the countries where the children live, for distribution through public health and HIV/AIDS prevention programs.

Mr. Clinton is to make his announcement at the Kalawati Saran Hospital, one of New Delhi's busiest hospitals for children. India, with 5.7 million HIV-positive people, has the highest number of cases in the world.

The new India-specific deal to be announced Thursday would provide HIV treatment for 10,000 Indian children by March 2007 by adding pediatric care to all adult HIV and AIDS treatment centers in the country.

Clinton, whose two-year appointment as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special tsunami envoy ends Dec. 31, is visiting India, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia - among the countries hardest hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 216,000 people in 12 countries in December 2004.