[ti:More Low Cost Anti-AIDS Drugs Mean More People Treated ]
[ar:Christopher Cruise]
[al:Health Report]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
[00:07.34]An American program called 
[00:11.45]the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 
[00:15.61]helps millions of people infected with HIV, 
[00:19.10]the virus responsible for AIDS. 
[00:25.19]PEPFAR is considered one of the most successful programs 
[00:29.49]created during the presidency of George W. Bush. 
[00:36.14]Its goal was to change HIV/AIDS from a death sentence 
[00:40.75]to a disease that, while serious, could be treated. 
[00:44.42]And for millions of people around the world, 
[00:46.72]that is just what happened.
[00:50.33]But researchers say it was not until 
[00:53.81]PEPFAR started using generic drugs 
[00:58.97]that major progress was made in fighting HIV/AIDS. 
[01:03.02]Generic drugs are copies of medicines 
[01:05.94]developed by large drug companies. 
[01:08.93]But they often cost a lot less.
[01:14.03]Researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island 
[01:17.14]studied the effectiveness of PEPFAR. 
[01:22.55]Kartik Venkatesh was the lead author of a report on the study. 
[01:28.21]He says the high cost of patented antiretroviral drugs 
[01:33.19]had an immediate influence on the program after it began.
[01:39.72]American officials considered whether to provide patented drugs 
[01:46.56]to HIV-infected patients, both in the United States and overseas. 
[01:49.98]Dr. Venkatesh says some people believe 
[01:55.15]that the drug industry wanted the government-financed program 
[01:57.88]to use patented drugs.
[02:02.18]But generic drugs were shown to be effective 
[02:07.34]in treating HIV as far back as two thousand three. 
[02:13.81]Using generic drugs helped cut the cost of treating a person 
[02:18.23]from about one thousand one hundred dollars a year 
[02:24.13]to about three hundred dollars a year in two thousand five.
[02:28.74]PEPFAR has also been able to save millions of dollars 
[02:31.91]by reducing transportation costs -- 
[02:37.82]for example, using ships instead of airplanes to move the drugs. 
[02:42.73]Dr. Venkatesh says the PEPFAR model could be used 
[02:45.16]in the fight against other diseases 
[02:49.39]as developing countries begin seeing health problems 
[02:54.12]that until recently had only been seen in richer countries.
[02:56.92]DR. KARTIK VENKATESH: "There is a movement towards understanding that 
[02:59.91]the real and perhaps potentially larger burden 
[03:01.77]in the future is also going to be 
[03:06.19]chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes (and) cancer. 
[03:11.54]And those are also diseases that require chronic, long-term medication. 
[03:14.03]A lot can be learned from the experience 
[03:17.01]about accessing generics for the treatment of HIV."
[03:20.56]The Brown University researchers have 
[03:23.92]proposed creation of a plan for what they call the 
[03:29.14]"efficient and transparent" purchase of generic drugs. 
[03:32.81]Planners would include the United States, 
[03:37.80]the World Health Organization 
[03:40.66]and the makers of generic drugs.
[03:44.77]And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. 
[03:57.90]I'm Christopher Cruise.