MUNICH, Germany, July 29 (AFP) - US pharmaceutical giant Merck said Thursday it had granted a license to a South African company to produce a cheaper generic version of its AIDS medication Efavirenz.
The non-profit deal will allow Thembalami Pharmaceuticals to supply the South African market and other countries in the south of the continent that have been ravaged by the deadly virus HIV.
"To be successful in the fight against AIDS, all the affected interest groups must work together," said Per Wold-Olsen, the president of Merck's German unit, Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD), for the division Human Health in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
"By granting the license for Efavirenz, MSD wants to continue to support the efforts of the South African government in expanding its AIDS program," he said in a statement.
MSD said it had begun offering AIDS drugs in developing countries at wholesale prices in 2001 in cooperation with the United Nations and has now expanded the program to 60 countries.
Global pharmaceutical groups have been on the defensive for years over developing countries' insistence on access to cheap AIDS medications, trying to protect their intellectual property rights on drugs they developed.
But in April 2001, 39 of the sector's top firms bowed to heavy pressure and dropped a court bid to stop South Africa importing cheap versions of their AIDS drugs.
And in August of last year, the World Trade Organisation reached an agreement in Geneva in which poor, vulnerable countries will be able to import cheap generic copies of patented medication under a "compulsory licensing system".
040729
AF0407J8
©AFP 2004.. All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission. http://www.afp.com/
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Bridgestone Firestone Trust Fund and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2004 - AEGiS. AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
