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Roche to help developing countries fight Aids

Date published: 13/01/2006

Roche is to help communities in the world's poorest countries produce Aids/HIV drugs locally. The firm's Technology Transfer Initiative will see activities within sub-Saharan Africa and the world's Least Developed Countries increased, as technical expertise will be provided to local manufacturers of generic HIV medicines.

William Burns, Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO, said: "With international funding now available, Africa will be the world's biggest user of HIV medicine. "We have taken this unique step, which is unlike any initiative undertaken by Roche, to help ensure that the right medicines in the right formulation are available locally."

He added: "We want to use the knowledge we have developed to help strengthen local manufacturing capability and hope to help as many manufacturers as possible in these hardest hit countries by sharing our knowledge, so that they can learn and benefit from our technology." A new team of experts will be established later this year, partly based in the company's headquarters in Basel and partly on the ground, to increase manufacturing knowledge and capacity.

The scheme will focus on the production of the HIV protease inhibitor medicine, saquinavir, recommended by the World Health Organization as a second line treatment in resource limited settings. Roche has stated that countries wishing to produce the generic drug will not need to apply for a voluntary licence, as the company does not enforce its patents in these regions.

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