NAIROBI, Sept 22 (AFP) - British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline on Wednesday agreed to allow a Kenyan firm to start manufacturing generic copies of its patented AIDS drugs.
The agreement signed in Nairobi gives the green light to Cosmos Limited to start making antiretrovirals containing Zidovudine and Lamuvudine or a combination of the two molecules, and to sell them across east Africa as well as in Rwanda and Burundi.
"GlaxoSmithKline has granted a voluntary licence under its patents to Cosmos Limited for the manufacture and sale of antiretrovirals containing Zidovudine and/or Lamuvudine in Kenya and East Africa," William Mwatu, the firm's medical and regulatory affairs manager told a press conference.
"We are pleased that another local healthcare company will play a significant role in addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis," GlaxoSmithKline's general manager for East Africa Andrew Bullock said.
Cosmos Managing Director Prakash Patel said the firm will start making drugs "in the next couple of weeks".
He explained that costs will depend on the level of production.
AIDS has killed about 1.5 million people since 1984 in Kenya.
About seven percent of Kenya's 32 million inhabitants are estimated to be infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
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