Govt pledges Rp 200b for HIV\/AIDS campaign<\/p>\n
Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia launched a national movement on Tuesday to fight the
\ndeadly spread of HIV\/AIDS in the country with officials pledging
\nsome Rp 200 billion annually for the campaign and a concerted
\neffort to reduce the cost of high-priced, imported life saving
\ndrugs.<\/p>\n
Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi, during the launch of the
\ncampaign, said that the government had come to a consensus on
\nefforts to mitigate the effects of Human Immunodeficiency
\nVirus\/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, which included the
\ncrucial measure of importing badly needed ingredients for AIDS
\ncocktails.<\/p>\n
Achmad conceded that ensuring access to affordable medicine
\nin the war against the epidemic ultimately fell to national
\ngovernments.<\/p>\n
He said that in the control and prevention of the epidemic,
\nwhich official figures say has claimed some 2,880 lives in
\nIndonesia, the government could eventually register generic
\nmedicine producers and when possible, issue compulsory licenses
\nwhen necessary to negotiate prices based on comparative price
\ndata.<\/p>\n
\"Life-saving drug treatments for HIV\/AIDS are unaffordable for
\ndeveloping countries like ours. It costs at least US$10,000 a
\nyear per patient,\" Achmad said on the sidelines of a national
\nconsultation meeting on the control and prevention of HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n
The need for such medicine may be even more pressing since
\nactivists suggest that the official estimates are merely the tip
\nof the iceberg.<\/p>\n
HIV\/AIDS-related illnesses often go undetected, with some
\nestimates of those infected put at over 80,000.<\/p>\n
\"We plan, in the long run, to import the extremely costly
\ningredients of AIDS cocktails from labs in India or Thailand,
\nthen make the cocktails in Indonesia and sell them at a more
\naffordable price,\" Achmad said.<\/p>\n
\"This is possible. It just takes will.\"<\/p>\n
Costly cocktail ingredients include Nelfinavir, made by Roche
\nand Efavirenz, as well as Merck.<\/p>\n
Also included in the government's campaign is a commitment to
\nallocate some Rp 200 billion annually.<\/p>\n
Mechanisms to coordinate the movement would be established by,
\namong other methods, scheduling an annual Special Session on
\nHIV\/AIDS in the Cabinet.<\/p>\n
During Tuesday's meeting, discussions touched on the critical
\nissue of life-saving drugs, which are grossly unaffordable due to
\nexorbitant prices that result from patents or exclusive marketing
\nrights.<\/p>\n
As a consequence, intellectual property protection ironically
\nthreatens people's health. Big pharmaceutical companies like
\nPfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Glaxo-Smith-Kline had earlier
\nstated that such high prices were necessary since their research
\nand development depended on those high prices.<\/p>\n
A classic example is that of fluconazole, a primary drug in
\nthe treatment of cryptococcal meningitis, a disorder which
\nreportedly affects around one in ten people who have AIDS, and
\nwithout treatment, life expectancy is less than a month.<\/p>\n
Pfizer for instance, has had a market monopoly for fluconazole
\nfor at least 12 years, according to recent reports from the
\nMedecins sans Frontieres (MSF), a French-based nonprofit health
\norganization.<\/p>\n
This patent will reportedly not expire before 2004 in the U.S.
\nand even later in some countries. The terrible part is that
\nPfizer sells fluconazole in less-developed or developing
\ncountries at the same rates as those in more-developed countries.<\/p>\n
If prices of medicines puts them out of reach of people in
\nneed, Tuesday's meeting concluded that governments need to be
\nencouraged to produce or import generic versions. Should South
\nAfrica, for instance, import generic fluconazole from Thailand,
\nthe cost of one year's maintenance treatment would reportedly
\nfall from US$2,970 to US$104, MSF had earlier stated.<\/p>\n
MSF added that an adequate response to the burden of
\ninfectious diseases would never be possible through limited
\ndonations from multinational pharmaceutical companies, and urged
\ngovernments to issue compulsory licenses should it become
\nnecessary.<\/p>",
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