-The United Nations   The United Nations today welcomed the results of studies that show that taking a tablet of an antiretroviral drug daily can reduce the risk of acquiring HIV by up to 73 per cent in people not infected by the virus that causes AIDS. The findings of the studies carried out in Kenya, Uganda and Botswana, showed that daily use of both tenofovir and tenofovir/emtricitabine antiretrovirals, taken as preventive...

-The United Nations   The United Nations agency mandated to spearhead the global response to HIV/AIDS today welcomed the new license agreement between the Medicines Patent Pool and the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences to increase access to antiretroviral therapy in developing countries. The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said the agreement marks the first time a pharmaceutical company has signed an agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool, describing it as a turning...

While ‘data exclusivity’ clauses will not feature in the India-European Union free trade agreement (FTA), the threat posed by the impending deal to the world’s supply of cheap generic drugs is far from over. India’s commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma assured Michel Sidibe, chief of the United Nations joint programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) at a meeting this week that India would reject attempts by pharmaceutical giants to include...

India’s FTAs pip generic drugs production Lot More For Less     * Generic drugs from India play a major role as Antiretroviral Drugs across the developing world     * A 2010 study says 80% of the medicines used by donor-funded programmes to treat people with HIV were sourced from India     * It’s cut down treatment costs drastically, from $10,000 to $80     * Stronger IP regimes may hamper production of generics *** The right of...

Moves by developed nations such as the United States to tighten intellectual property laws are threatening to limit production and distribution of generic drugs, which experts say have been and will remain key in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and currently account for 80 percent of HIV/AIDS treatment. These efforts are taking shape in two spheres. The first is in discussions on the outcome document that member states are expected...