Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Wall Street Journal - July 27, 2005
Marilyn Chase, marilyn.chase@wsj.com
The agreement initially calls for Mchem to supply pharmaceutical intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients, which are key precursors of finished drugs, to manufacturers including Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. in South Africa, as well as Cipla Ltd., Hetero Drugs Ltd., Matrix Laboratories Ltd. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. in India.
The pact also envisions Mchem's eventual export of finished formulations of AIDS drugs that are on the World Health Organization's list of recommended first-line treatments, pending inspections and data submissions to the WHO and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that satisfy international standards of quality assurance and good manufacturing practices. Such products are subject to national and international intellectual-property law, the foundation added.
Mchem's output of active ingredients initially will be enough to treat about 400,000 patients a year, and capacity will increase, the foundation said. Prices on finished formulations -- if and when approved for export -- would incorporate discounts from best available international prices. Generic AZT, for example, would be discounted more than 20% from the current lowest price on world markets.
The move is designed to ensure that expanding streams of AIDS drugs reach rising numbers of patients in the developing world. About 40 million people world-wide have HIV/AIDS, and six million of them need treatment.
The accord makes Mchem the first Chinese company to join the expanding network of partners enlisted by the Clinton Foundation, which has brokered deep discounts in AIDS drugs and diagnostics since 2003. The Clinton Foundation is a charitable group established by former President Bill Clinton that focuses on health and economic issues.
As a manufacturer of HIV/AIDS drugs for more than five years, Mchem supplies the Chinese government, Brazil and state-owned companies in Africa and Asia.
Separately, at an AIDS meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Pfizer Inc., the New York-based drug company, said its experimental compound maraviroc received fast-track status for review by the FDA.
Researchers also announced results of a trial in South Africa showing that circumcision has a strong protective effect against HIV transmission for heterosexual men. The trial -- the first-ever randomized, controlled study of circumcision and HIV -- involved over 3,000 young men and showed a 65% reduction in transmission for those who were circumcised.
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