Pfizer offers fluconazole to poor countries
Prevention getting top priority
Pfizer of New York City has offered to provide fluconazole free of charge in least-developed countries for treatment of fungal infections in AIDS patients.
Gro Harlem Brundtlandt, director-general
of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, called the step "very good news. I welcome [Pfizer’s] offer to expand access to fluconazole. This is an important drug to treat fungal brain infections and esophageal candidiasis, which are common among AIDS patients."
She added, "The private sector is showing it
is willing to do its part to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I am confident that they will work with governments and international organizations in their efforts to strengthen health systems so that they are able to provide the care needed. This is a great challenge for all of us."
A proposed new multibillion-dollar global fund for health will, however, concentrate on AIDS prevention rather than on the mass purchase of expensive antiretroviral drugs, according to David Nabarro, executive director at WHO. He said there had been "an extraordinary degree of convergence" of opinion on the subject at a recent United Nations conference in Geneva.
The fund is likely to be launched this month at a United Nations conference on AIDS in New York. Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, has said the fund needs $7 billion to $10 billion, but it looks likely to raise only $1 billion this year, with the United States pledging $200 million.
Nabarro estimated that 70% to 80% of the fund would be used to combat AIDS, with the remainder used for prevention and treatment of TB and malaria.
Developing countries have expressed concern over the imposition of technocratic solutions that will prove impossible to implement. Even with offers of cheaper drugs from pharmaceutical companies, many experts believe that a mass AIDS treatment program with antiretrovirals still will be too expensive and difficult to administer.
South Africa already has indicated it will not embark on a large program of AIDS treatment. "Antiretrovirals are still expensive," said Jo-Anne Collinge, spokeswoman for the South African department of health. "They are beyond the budget of the health department."
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