Cheaper 'cocktail' therapeutics expected to reach Chinese AIDS patients

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, November 08, 2003

Cheaper 'cocktail' therapeutics expected to reach Chinese AIDS patients

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China's large number of AIDS patients might have access to the cheaper therapeutic "cocktail" of protease inhibitors in the near future, Dr. David Da-i Ho, developer of the therapy, said Friday in Beijing.

Dr. Ho told a press conference that the cost and prices for the "cocktail" therapy had kept falling internationally and the cost might drop to 150 US dollars annually for developing countries after negotiating with relevant international medicine corporations.

The price might still seem a little "expensive" for those poor AIDS patients in Africa but is "acceptable" for patients in China,Dr. Ho said.

The "cocktail" therapy currently costs one AIDS patient in the United States about 10,000 US dollars every year but drops to 300 to 500 US dollars for patients in developing countries, he said.

However, Chinese patients are still denied such a favorable price because of factors like intellectual property rights, the pioneering AIDS researcher said.

Dr. Ho said he believed Chinese AIDS patients would "soon" be given such prices.

There are currently 840,000 HIV carriers and 80,000 AIDS patients in China, according to the latest statistics released by Chinese Ministry of Health on Thursday.

Gao Qiang, China's executive deputy minister of health told an international economic forum Thursday that China is planning to offer free treatment to HIV carriers and AIDS patients in the country's rural areas and urban AIDS-infected population who are in financial difficulties.

About 5,000 HIV carriers and AIDS patients in poverty would receive free treatment this year and the free treatment would be available for all poor HIV carriers and AIDS patients next year, Gao said, without saying which therapy they would receive.

Born on Nov. 3, 1952 in Taiwan, Dr. David Da-i Ho was named "Man of the Year" by Time magazine in 1996 for his leadership in the development of a therapeutic cocktail of protease inhibitors for HIV carriers.

Dr. Ho's use of a "cocktail" of protease inhibitors and other antiviral drugs in the earliest stage of HIV infection remains oneof the most effective ways to control HIV and slow down HIV carriers' speed to fall ill.

"HIV/AIDS in China has not been controlled and prevention and treatment in China is still faced with arduous tasks," Gao admitted in Thursday's international economic forum.

Chinese central and local governments have allocated 6.8 billion yuan (850 million US dollars) to establish and improve thedisease prevention and control mechanism at provincial levels.

Central and local governments would also invest 2.25 billion yuan (272 million US dollars) mainly to strengthen the blood testing stations in the central and western regions, Gao said.

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