Bill Clinton's drive against Malaria
Sarah Jacob
Friday, July 18, 2008, (Washington)
In 2002, former US president Bill Clinton established an HIV/AIDS initiative that sought to negotiate lower prices for antiretroviral treatments and now he is doing the same for malaria treatments.
Every year, around 500 million people are sickened by Malaria, and more than a million die from the infectious disease. Clinton is focusing his attention on bringing down these numbers.
The Clinton Foundation has struck a deal with six Indian and Chinese companies that will cut the price of the latest miracle malaria medicines, the Artemisinin-based combination therapies, or ACT drugs by a third.
For decades, the simple monotherapy drugs Chloroquine has been used to treat malaria. However, over time the malaria parasite has developed a resistance to this drug rendering it ineffective. ACT drugs can rapidly cure malaria but the problem is that it is much more expensive.
The supply of Artemisinin, a plant extract that takes up to 14 months to produce, has been volatile, with prices ranging from $150 to $1,100 a kilogram in the past four years. The price instability has discouraged additional suppliers from entering the market.
The Clinton Foundation has struck deals with Chinese suppliers who have agreed to supply raw Artemisinin at a fixed price with a guarantee of purchase by Indian manufacturers Cipla and IPCA Laboratories Ltd, who will in return sell their products at agreed-upon low wholesale prices.
"This agreement will reduce the prices for ACT drugs by 30 per cent to just 48 cents per treatment. We are also reducing the volatility of Artemisinin by 70 per cent, making the drugs cheaper substantially and enabling governments to stretch their limited dollars to reach millions more patients every year," said Clinton.
The agreements, which help mitigate the supply and demand risks of ACT drugs, are expected to ensure a steady supply of a crucial Malaria medicine at reasonable prices for the world's poor. This deal will allow lower prices of the drugs to be available in 69 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.