WASHINGTON, March 2 (AFP) - Washington will accelerate its approval for generic anti-AIDS drugs that could be used in the next few months as part of a 15 billion dollar program launched in 2003 by President George W. Bush, a top US administration official told Congress Wednesday.
"We have put a lot of effort into hand-holding with generic companies around the world to encourage them so I guess in the next few months we will see more generics approved," Randall Tobias, US global AIDS coordinator, said, speaking before a House of Representatives subcommittee.
"We're speeding up the process," he added.
He said that in January the FDA gave its first green light for generic antiretrovirals to the South African drug firms Aspen Pharmacare.
The World Health Organisation is among the many to press the US Food and Drug Administration to step up the approval process for generic drugs to allow millions of AIDS-infected people in poor countries to access markedly less costly antiretroviral therapy drugs to help prolong their lives. Generic antiretrovirals can cost as little as 150 dollars, even less, per patient in countries with low income, compared with nearly 500 dollars for brand name drugs.
In 2004, the United States announced a process allowing the acceleration of FDA approval for these drugs.
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