US pledges to buy African-made ARVs

The US Government is throwing its weight behind African production of antiretrovirals as the continent grapples the world’s largest HIV epidemic. Stavros Nicolaou, the head of strategic trade at Aspen Pharmacare, said the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief programme (Pepfar), has committed to buying ARVs for 2m African patients from local suppliers. Fin24 reports that this is key because it will boost production on the continent. Pepfar, which former President George W Bush initiated in 2003, only got short-term reauthorisation in March after months of political debate over its reach. It has saved more than 25m lives and allowed at least 5.5m children to be born free of the HIV virus that causes AIDS. The Covid-19 pandemic kick-started heightened efforts to produce drugs locally after Africa was left at the back of the queue when it came to vaccines and health issues were increasingly linked to global security.

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