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Mali signs AIDS drug deal with Western firms
Last Updated: 2001-04-09 17:00:45 EDT (Reuters Health)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's GlaxoSmithKline Plc said on Monday that Mali has become the sixth African country to strike a deal with Western pharmaceutical companies to ensure access to cheap AIDS drugs.
The West African country will receive heavily discounted antiretroviral drugs for HIV infection under the United Nations-sponsored initiative, which is supported by five major drug firms. The industry is under intense pressure to improve access to life-saving antiretroviral treatments in sub-Saharan Africa where the AIDS pandemic has hit hardest.
Senegal, Uganda, Rwanda, Ivory Coast and Cameroon have already signed up under the initiative, which is backed by UNAIDS. The other firms involved in the initiative are US. firms Merck & Co and Bristol-Myers Squibb, Swiss group Roche and the unlisted German group Boehringer Ingelheim.
GSK said it would supply its Combivir combination therapy at $2 a day under the scheme, a discount of 90%.
The pharmaceutical industry is currently embroiled in a legal fight with South Africa over AIDS drugs in a case that reopens this month.
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