The prices of at least 22 anti-AIDS drugs, hitherto kept away from any kind of tax relief, might come down significantly if the proposal made by the Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry to completely exempt all anti-HIV /AIDS drugs (bulk as well as formulations) is accepted by the Central Government.

The drugs that may be recommended for tax exclusion by the chemicals ministry include lamivudine + nevirapine + stavuidine, lamivudine + zidovudine, abacavir, lopinavir, tenofovir disoproxil, emtricitabine, mirtazaine, acyclovir, valacyclovir, ganclovir, delavirdine mesylate, atazanavir sulphate, amprenavir, fosamprenavir calcium, ribavinn, famciclovir, adefovir, amaniadine, interfercon, lamivudine + stavudine, lamivudine + zidovudine + nevirapine and lamivudine + efavirenz + didanosine.

It is known that apart from ritonavir and saquinavir, there are no other anti AIDS drugs that are exempted from both custom duty as well as CVD/excise duty. Drugs like didanosine, lamivudine, stavudine, zidovudine, efavirenz, nevirapine, indinavir, nelfinavir, etc may also turn slightly cheaper if completely exempted from the existing excise duty/customs duty. The chemicals and fertilisers ministry may forward a list of 33 anti-AIDS drugs to be considered for complete duty exemption.

The draft pharmaceutical policy of the chemicals ministry had suggested a series of measures for bringing down the cost of anti-HIV/AIDS treatment. This include, apart from tax exemption, a proposal to make manufacturers and traders to charge lower profit and trade margins on these drugs and to ensure production of all second generation drugs in the country in consonance with the provisions of Patent Act, 1970. Procurement of second-generation drugs through price negotiation was another suggestion made.

India has the highest number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in the entire South Asian region. There are as many as 5.1 million people affected by HIV/AIDS in India, about 85% of the South Asian total. Globally, India has the second highest reported cases of HIV/AIDS, just below South Africa's total of 5.3 million. There are presently 39 Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Centres in the country located mostly in the medical colleges and major tertiary hospitals. These are located mostly in the six high prevalence states namely Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland. Further, 100 new centres have been identified to be opened in the near future and the number would go to 188 by the year 2010.