AIDS Commission to work for cheaper availability of ARTs

New Delhi, July 15 (UNI) The newly launched independent Commission on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific would take up with the western Pharmaceutical companies the issue of making available second generation Anti-retro viral treatment (ART) drugs easily available at lower prices.

Chairman of the Commission C Rangarajan, who is also Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, told reporters here that apart from assessing the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS in the countries of the region, the Commission would also take up the issue of availability of cheap second generation ARTs to the people.

He pointed out that since the second generation drugs were patented under the WTO they were very expensive which would have a huge impact on the HIV/AIDS treatment programmes in developing countries of the region. The Commission, which has ten of the region's leading developmental economists, policy makers and civil society representatives, would try to convince the western pharma companies to make these drugs available widely.

Since the World Bank has provided assistance to these Pharma companies in developing the second generation ARTs, its help could also be sought in this regard, Mr Rangarajan said. He said that the price of first generation ARTs were less as there was no product patent in India at that time and thus, they could be replicated. Measures are needed to be devised to bring down the price of the second generation drugs also.

Mr Tim Broun, commission member, senior research fellow at the US-based East West Centre and member of Thai Working Group, said that in Thailand 20 per cent people are on second generation ART cost of which amounts to 80 per cent of that country's total expenditure on HIV/AIDS.

It would cost Thailand about 400 to 500 million dollars in the next five years, he pointed out and said that the Commission as a regional forum could take up a collective decision and talk to the companies concerned to reduce the price.

Mr Rangarajan said that the Commission would conduct an objective analysis of the developmental consequences of the AIDS epidemic in the region and its medium to long term implications on the socio-economic environment. These findings would be summerised in a report with recommendations for a set of measures designed to mobilise leaders to adequately respond to the epidemic in the region, he said.

The Commission would try to devise measures to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on families affected by the disease, society and the countries. It would also try to bridge the serious data gaps and analyse the available data to formulate policy predictions for the countries of the region, he said.

At the end of 2005, there were an estimated 8.3 million people living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific and the number is growing rapidly. Over a million people died of AIDS last year alone, he pointed out and said, ''Faced with these startling figures and such a grim scenario, development experts need to describe in greater detail the kind of impact AIDS will have on societies and the development of countries in the region. To date, this sort of analysis has been inadequate for Asia and the Pacific and data is still limited.'' ''The goal of this commission and its eminent thinkers is to generate adequate information to show to leaders and governments in the region the urgent necessity to invest in AIDS if they are to maintain their achievements in development,'' he said.

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