Generic AIDS drug production underway

South Africans living with HIV/AIDS will now be able to benefit from a cheaper, generic AIDS drug produced in the country, a local manufacturer announced this week. Pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare on Wednesday launched the drug, Aspen-Stavudine, its version of Zerit, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, saying it would be immediately available to any South Africans who need it. Stavudine is one of the key drugs used in a triple therapy cocktail, Aspen Pharmacare group chief operating officer Linda Philip told PlusNews. The company was granted voluntary licences by Bristol-Myers Squibb to produce generic versions of the drug in South Africa. Under the terms of the agreement, Aspen Pharmacare can sell its version of the drug to both public and private patients across Africa. The drug will be available from US $3 to US $4.50 - up to 41 percent cheaper than the original - depending on the strength of the formulation. Philip said the company was also in the process of developing generic versions of several other antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, and hoped to be able to offer triple combination therapy for under $1 a day, once they had been approved by the Medicines Control Council. This move has been considered a breakthrough in a country where the price of ARVs remains a barrier to more people accessing treatment. The announcement followed in the wake of the country's first national AIDS conference, where department of health officials indicated that the provision of ARVs in the public sector was no longer a matter of "if, but when".