MSF urges UN and G8 AIDS drug action

The international medical NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), is urging G8 nations and the UN to push for speedy delivery of the cheapest and latest anti-AIDS drugs to developing countries. MSF stressed that this was vital to head off a looming supply and cost crisis, because "access to newer drugs is increasingly critical, as the growing number of people with HIV/AIDS currently on treatment will inevitably develop resistance to first-line treatments". In a new edition of a pricing guide released in Geneva this week, the NGO shows that while generic production has brought down the monthly cost of most first-line antiretrovirals - from over US $10,000 in 2000 to as little as $150 per patient in June 2005 - the prices of newer drugs and formulations for children are up to 12 times higher.