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Drug company benefits from AIDS decision

    JOHANNESBURG

    Aspen Pharmacare, the only company in South Africa licensed to make generic HIV/AIDS drugs, is already benefiting from the government's recent announcement of a national treatment plan.

    Following a day-long special cabinet meeting late last week, the government proposed a September deadline for the development of a plan to cover the national rollout of HIV/AIDS drugs.

    Aspen has already made available for sale Aspen-stavudine, a generic version of the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug sold under the brand name Zerit.

    The local Business Day newspaper quoted the Aspen CEO, Stephen Saad, as saying: "If government puts half a million people on AIDS drugs we could easily cope, as we recently increased our manufacturing capacity by 3 billion, to 5 billion tablets a year."

    He said the licence also enabled the company to market the generic HIV/AIDS drug in the public and private sectors throughout Africa.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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