China witnessed a sharp drop in the price of anti-retrovirus drugs, or anti-HIV medicine after import duties were cut and encouragement of local production, according to an official report.

The evaluation report jointly issued here Monday by the Ministry of Health and the United Nations Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in China, said the average decrease ranges from 50 to 66 percent.

The report attributed the downward trend to the five-year exemption of import duty and value-added tax on the medicines since last year.

The local production of anti-HIV medicine, after the expiration of intellectual property right protection, and simplified approval procedures fueled the price drop, the report said.

The production of locally made anti-HIV medicine might reduce the medicine cost per Chinese AIDS patient to 3,500 yuan (423 US dollars) or 4,000 yuan (484 US dollars) per year, the report said.

(People's Daily   December 2, 2003)