Cheaper AIDS drugs soon

Junor

HEALTH MINISTER John Junor said the Government was negotiating with pharmaceutical companies in a number of countries to obtain low-cost medication to treat persons with HIV/AIDS in Jamaica.

The Government's news agency, the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), in a release over the weekend, quoted Mr. Junor as saying those negotiations would be completed by October, this year.

He declined to say at what cost the medication would be made available, but said it would be significantly less than the current cost of about $45,000 or US$1,000 per month per patient.

Mr. Junor said several Indian pharmaceutical companies had expressed interest in offering AIDS drugs to the Caribbean at competitive prices, and that Jamaica was also "having discussions with Barbados, Trinidad and Haiti in order to come up with a glossary or compendium of effective drugs."

Such a compendium would need to be adjusted periodically to take into account the development of individual resistance to particular drugs, the Minister said.

According to a the JIS release, the issue of low-cost medication to treat and combat the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is of growing importance to the Caribbean, which has the world's second highest rate of infection after sub-Saharan Africa.

The JIS said Mr. Junor, who was speaking on its weekly "Think Tank" programme, also spoke to the creation of a fund to finance a national health promotion and prevention programme, to address both medication and education with respect to infectious diseases, and chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

He said Cabinet has already approved the establishment of the fund and a Green Paper was being drafted for presentation to Parliament by October, this year.

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