Pharmacia Takes Steps to Provide HIV Drug in Poor Countries

(Peapack, NJ, USA) announced the launch of a pilot program for expanding access to needed medicines for the poorest populations in the developing world.

Under the program, Pharmacia will grant nonexclusive licenses for delavirdine, a medicine for HIV/AIDS, to generic pharmaceutical companies that agree to make and supply the product to the world's poorest countries. Delavirdine is among the antiretroviral therapies recommended by the US Department of Health and Human Services for treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Pharmacia will transfer its proprietary manufacturing technology and regulatory dossier for delavirdine to the International Dispensary Association Foundation (IDA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands), which can select any generic companies that meet its manufacturing standards to make the drug. IDA is the world's largest nonprofit supplier of generic medicines to developing countries and relief agencies.

"This is an innovative approach to the complex access issue that we believe deserves to be tested in real world conditions,” said Fred Hassan, chairman and CEO of Pharmacia.





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