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
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The right of pharma firms in developing countries to manufacture cheap generic drugs was endorsed at a special UN session on HIV/AIDS in New York. A declaration issued at the end of the meeting on June 10 committed member-countries to ensuring access to affordable antiretroviral drugs, most of which are produced in India. This was, of course, strongly opposed by the developed countries, which are arguing for a stricter intellectual property regime.