In January, the U.S. approved its first primary-treatment generic AIDS med for the President’s $15 billion global AIDS initiative, PEPFAR.
Two Guatemalan
demonstrators died March 15 when nationwide protests over the
ratification of a trade treaty that will restrict generic meds,
including HIV meds, turned violent.
On March 16, Brazil threatened to break U.S. drug patents unless American drug companies shared drugmaking technology with local pharma factories.
In Kenya,
where 77 percent of medicated HIVers take generics, hundreds of
protesters rallied unsuccessfully March 18 against Indian anti-generic
legislation at Nairobi’s Indian High Commission.
Belgian
generics company Propharex is sending a turnkey generics factory
piecemeal to the African nation of Gabon, aiming to boost production of
affordable HIV meds.
On March 23, India tightened
its anti-generics legislation, possibly restricting generic production
of future AIDS meds but ensuring continued membership in the World
Trade Organization.
