Kedu, the first China-made drug for treating AIDS, went on sale in
tablet and capsule forms across China on Sunday.
Kedu, produced by Northeast China Pharmaceuticals Group Company, is
a legal imitation of AZT, the most effective anti-AIDS drug
licensed by the United States Food and Drug Administration. The
patent protection period of AZT in China expired at the end of last
year.
Kedu obtained a permit for domestic marketing from the State Drug
Administration in early August. It put an end to the country's
total reliance on imported AIDS medicines.
According to Zeng Yi, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
the number of AIDS patients and HIV carriers in China is
850,000.
Due to a reliance on imported AIDS drugs, patients and HIV carriers
in China had to spend much more money in treating the disease each
year than those in countries such as Thailand and Brazil.
Wu
Hao, an AIDS consultant at You'an Hospital, Beijing, disclosed AIDS
and HIV patients mostly received a cocktail treatment at his
hospital for a monthly cost of 2,500 yuan (US$301) to 3,000 yuan
(US$361).
Chen Gang, chairman of the Northeast China Pharmaceuticals Group
Company, said he hoped Kedu could help bring down the annual
pharmaceutical spending of AIDS patients and HIV carriers to
below10,000 yuan (US$1,204).
(Xinhua News
Agency September 2, 2002)