By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
Associated Press Writer
GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization praised an agreement
by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG to slash the price
of its
newest anti-malaria drug for parts of Africa.
The deal, signed Wednesday, could help reverse a trend in which
``the number of children dying of malaria in Africa has been
increasing in recent years,'' said WHO Director-General Gro
Harlem
Brundtland.
``This is really a good deal for global health,'' she said.
WHO estimates that malaria, spread by the Anopheles mosquito,
infects more than 300 million people a year and kills 1 million
of
them annually. Most who die are African children under the age
of
5.
Part of the problem is the malaria parasite is increasingly
resistant to the standard treatment, chloroquine, which once
was
highly effective, Brundtland said.
Novartis Chief Executive Daniel Vasella said the company had
developed the new medicine, called Coartem, with an eye toward
providing it at cost to WHO. The price - about 10 cents a tablet,
or $2.40 per full adult treatment - brings the company no profit,
but covers its costs, he said.
Coartem costs up to $40 per course of treatment in the West,
where it is sold under the name Riamet to people traveling to
malaria-infested areas, Vasella said.
Novartis developed Coartem with the Institute for Microbiology
and Epidemiology in Beijing by combining a traditional Chinese
plant-based remedy with a synthetic substance.
The result is the fastest-acting anti-malaria medicine, with a
cure rate over 95 percent. It kills parasites in 48 hours. So
far,
no development of resistance has been detected, Vasella said.
Brundtland conceded that the low price was still too expensive
for some countries but said the drug could be used where it
is most
needed to fight drug-resistant cases. The program would focus
on
East and Central Africa, where the need is greatest, she said.
The agreement comes as other pharmaceutical companies have moved
to cut their prices of AIDS drugs in recent months because of
pressure to make the drugs available to poor countries. Novartis
doesn't produce AIDS medicines.
``Malaria is a bigger killer of young children in Africa than
HIV/AIDS,'' said David Alnwick, head of WHO's anti-malaria
campaign.
zurück |