Three Indian drug manufacturers and a South African company have signed a landmark agreement with Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative for supplying anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) at one-third to one-half the current price of drugs in the developing world.

The companies involved in the initiative led by former US President Bill Clinton are Cipla Ltd., Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., Matrix Laboratories Ltd and Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd., of Johannesburg, South Africa.

The agreement covers antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) delivered to people in Africa and the Caribbean where the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative is working with governments and organizations to set up country-wide integrated care, treatment and prevention programs. It is hoped that up to two million people will be receiving medicine by the year 2008.

According to an official release, the price of one of the commonly used triple drug therapy combinations will now be substantially reduced, available for less than $140 per person per year. That translates into a cost of just 36-to-38 cents per person per day. Overall, the Clinton Foundation agreement will be reducing by one-third to one-half the current price of drugs in the developing world.

The Clinton Foundation has been working toward this agreement over the course of the past seven months, focusing on ways to reduce costs and scale up production of the so-called "triple drug cocktails," which can substantially extend the lives of people living with AIDS and help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The ARVs from these companies have been assessed to meet international quality standards by the World Health Organization and/or the Medicines Control Council of South Africa.

Along with its drug procurement activities, the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative is pioneering a new approach to launching robust and comprehensive systems for HIV and AIDS care and treatment in the developing world. A coalition of volunteer experts in business; health care management and education; and AIDS care, treatment and research form multidisciplinary teams that provide technical assistance to governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector.

The Clinton Foundation is working in close cooperation with the World Health Organization and UNAIDS on the "3 by 5" program to scale-up AIDS care and treatment. It is also working with other organizations, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Through its collaboration with the WHO, UNAIDS and the Global Fund, the Foundation hopes to extend the benefits of this program to other countries and organizations that provide treatment in the developing world and that have instituted appropriate safeguards.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed the new initiative to further cut the price of AIDS medicines in developing countries.

"Providing AIDS treatment to those who most urgently need it in poor countries is the most urgent health challenge the world faces," said the WHO Director-General, Dr LEE Jong-wook. "WHO welcomes this Clinton Foundation initiative and all private and public sector efforts that will both reduce the price of AIDS medicines and ensure their availability to the people who most urgently need them."