JOHANNESBURG, Dec 10 (AFP) - The South African arm of GlaxoSmithKline, which has been rapped for inflating prices of its AIDS drugs, on Wednesday said it would allow a second manufacturer to produce generic versions of its antiretroviral (ARV) medicines.
The move will lead to a significant drop in AIDS drug prices, a top official of an independent competition watchdog said.
The company also agreed to entertain applications from two more generic manufacturers, a company statement said, according to the SAPA news agency.
GlaxoSmithKline "has... agreed to entertain applications for a further two possible licences," the SAPA news agency quoted a company statement as saying.
The announcement followed a complaint by an HIV-positive woman, Hazel Tau, to South Africa's Competition Commission that GlaxoSmithKline and another firm, Boehringer Ingelheim, were inflating prices of ARVs due to their stranglehold on the market.
The Competition Commission, an independent body which ensures that companies compete fairly and do not abuse positions of power, had ruled that the two firms had engaged in "excessive pricing", "an exclusionary act" and "denied a competitor access to an essential facility".
It had recommended that the two firms be fined 10 percent of their annual turnover in South Africa.
Competition Commissioner Menzi Simelane was upbeat on Wednesday, saying: "We believe there will be sufficient generic competition to push prices down."
He said he hoped that the prices would fall by the end of this year.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa's main AIDS lobbying group, whose campaign was greatly responsible in forcing Pretoria to provide life-extending antiretroviral drugs to thousands of AIDS sufferers, on Wednesday said the German company Boehringer Ingelheim would follow suit.
TAC leader Zackie Achmat, who had refused treatment for a long time to force the South African government to provide cheap AIDS drugs to victims, made the announcement.
GlaxoSmithKline said that in 2001 it had granted a voluntary licence to generic drug manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare to manufacturing and sell three ARVs -- Epivir (3TC), Retrovir (AZT) and Combivir -- to the public sector in South Africa.
"In October 2003, GSK extended this licence to include both the public and private sectors and all countries in the sub-Saharan region," the statement said.
The second licence would be granted on terms substantially similar to those of the Aspen licence, it added.
Meanwhile, the Competition Commission said it was still in discussions with Boehringer Ingelheim regarding a settlement agreement.
About 5.3 million South Africans in a population of 44.8 million are infected with HIV or AIDS, a higher rate than any other country.
Last month, the government announced that some 46 million dollars (38 million euros) would be allocated for the rest of the fiscal year -- until March 31 -- to fight the disease.
The government said some 11 million dollars would be spent on recruiting new health care staff, while 3.2 million would go for health system upgrades.
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