23 September 2004
GOVERNMENT has granted PHARCO Limited, an Italian company incorporated in Zambia, a compulsory licence to start manufacturing anti-retroviral (ARVs) drugs in the wake of escalating HIV and AIDS figures in Zambia.
Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Dipak Patel said yesterday that PHARCO Limited had earlier presented to Government a project proposal for the local manufacture of the triple compound under the names Normavir 30 and Normavir 40. The combination consists of lamivudine, stavudine and nevirapine drugs.
PHARCO Limited is expected to start manufacturing the drug early in 2005.
Mr Patel said the vending of the drug would be regulated by Statutory Instrument Number 83 of 2004, and would not be exported outside Zambia.
'In consideration that the mentioned product, a triple combination of drugs, is not marketed in Zambia by international patent owners, and that it is in the national interest to keep the final price as low as possible, the total amount of royalties due to the patent right owners shall not exceed 2.5 per cent of the total turnover of the mentioned products at the end of each financial year of PHARCO Ltd,' Mr Patel said.
He said in accordance with section 41 of the Patent Act, the expiration of the compulsory licence would be as soon as the conditions of the national emergency and extreme urgency created by the HIV/AIDS pandemic comes to an end.
Commerce Permanent Secretary Davidson Chilipamushi estimated the licence to run up to 2009.
PHARCO Limited managing director Giovanni Leonardi said he was happy to be party to the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Zambia.
He said the company would be carrying out studies for the next three months after which it would start manufacturing the drug.
Zambia is rated among the 10 most HIV/AIDS devastated African countries with over 917, 718 people infected by the pandemic, with an unestimated figure carrying full blown AIDS.
HIV/AIDS related deaths by the close of 2003 were estimated to be in excess of 835, 904, resulting in about 750, 504 children being orphaned.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2004 The Times of Zambia. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
