[india-drug] Postings

[Leela McCullough <leela@healthnet.org>]

Postings
---------

>From UN wire March 6, 2003

MALARIA: Chinese Drug Seen As Potential Major Advance 

The Chinese-developed malarial drug Artekin, which the World Health 
Organization said has the greatest potential of all malaria drugs,
could be a major weapon against the disease, the South China Morning
Post reported today.
Malaria expert Li Guoqiao of the Guangzhou University of Traditional 
Chinese Medicine developed Artekin, which is made from a Chinese plant 
and may crack Western pharmaceutical company dominance in malaria
drugs, the Post said. 
Scientists said in December early clinical trials showed eradication 
rates of the malarial parasite in 95-100 percent of patients tested. Li

said Artekin, which he has been selling to public hospitals for a third

of the price of similar treatments, produces rapid results in its 
short, two-day treatment schedule, making it easier for patients to
stick to their treatment. 
WHO regional adviser on malaria Allan Schapira has provided support for

Li's research, but Janis Lazdins-Helds, a scientist with the WHO's 
special program for research and training in tropical diseases, said
the WHO needs more information on the treatment before adding the drug
to its Model List of Essential Drugs. 
Li said the drug, financed by local pharmaceutical companies and the 
WHO, would be sold in Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe and is being 
produced in Vietnam (Carrie Chan, South China Morning Post, March 6).


HIV/AIDS: U.S. Abortion Politics Said To Hinder Bush's $15 Billion 
Package 

A political divide among U.S. lawmakers over abortion funding is 
hampering U.S. President George W. Bush's $15 billion global HIV/AIDS
plan, the New York Times reports today.
Initially expected to pass through Congress easily, the Bush plan 
remains held up over dollar amounts to give to the U.N.-created Global
Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and whether the proposed 
funding would benefit overseas health clinics offering abortion. 
Regarding funding, the White House wants to spend $200 million this 
year on the Global Fund with the rest to come later, while some 
congressional Democrats want initial funding up to $1 billion.
On the abortion issue, Bush has come under pressure from anti-abortion 
advocates who urged him to extend a federal policy barring funds from 
going to abortion clinics to HIV/AIDS clinics that also offer or
promote abortions. Bush's compromise solution was to grant money to
health clinics that perform both services, while insisting on
accounting measures to ensure that U.S. dollars fund only HIV/AIDS
care, not abortions.
Some U.S. lawmakers want to make the policy into law, but others fear 
that a congressional debate over the thorny question of abortion could 
set Bush's initiative back further.
"I want the AIDS bill to pass," said Representative Henry Hyde, a 
conservative Republican and staunch anti-abortion advocate. "And I
think misdirected attention to other issues might overly burden the
AIDS bill" 
(Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, March 6).





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