Domestic firms to supply AIDS drug

The three companies were selected through a competitive bidding process. CHAI had sought proposals from 17 companies in January this year to supply pediatric and second-line drugs to UNITAID projects this year.  The companies will supply the most widely used generic second-line regimen (tenofovir (TDF), lamivudine (3TC) and lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) at 19 per cent lesser rates than the amount payed by UNITAID and CHAI in 2007. Similarly, the prices are 16 per cent and 46 per cent lower than the average market prices in low and middle-income countries respectively.  Second-line treatment is required by patients who develop resistance to first-line treatment. Such treatments currently cost five to ten times more than first-line therapies in low-income countries. Nearly five lakh patients will require these drugs by 2010.  According to CHAI, "Several suppliers agreed to price their drugs on a