LONDON (AP) — Gilead Sciences Inc., one of the world's biggest producers of AIDS drugs, will allow some of them to be made by generic manufacturers — potentially increasing their availability in poor countries, particularly in Africa, officials said Tuesday.
In the first deal of its kind, the Foster City, California-based pharmaceutical company has agreed to allow four of its AIDS drugs to be made by generic drug companies at a cheaper cost in return for a small proportion of royalties, United Nations health officials said.
Most of the 33 million people worldwide who have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, live in Africa. One of the drugs will also be used to treat people with hepatitis.
The deal was negotiated by the Medicines Patent Pool, part of a U.N.-led partnership that raises money for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by things like taxing airplane tickets. Among the partnership's 29 member countries, only Chile, France, Korea, Mali and Niger are actually implementing the airline tax.
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