GSK LOWERS PRICES FOR AIDS DRUGS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is reducing the cost of certain drugs used to fight AIDS/HIV in some of the world's poorest countries, the company announced.

The price cuts, made possible by improvements in the manufacturing process, affect drugs on GSK's not-for-profit (NFP) program. Ziagen, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a second-line treatment option, and Trizivir, a triple-fixed-dose used in patients with both HIV and tuberculosis, will both be reduced 30 percent.

In addition, GSK is adding Kivexa and Telzir, two newer drugs, to the NFP program.

The NFP prices are available to customers in 64 countries on the United Nation's list of Least Developed Countries and in all of sub-Saharan Africa. In 2005, GSK shipped more than 126 million tablets of HIV/AID medicines to developing countries.