US commits to buying African-made ARVs, says Aspen exec

The United States government is throwing its weight behind African production of antiretrovirals (ARVs) as the continent grapples the world’s largest HIV epidemic.

The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) programme has committed to buying ARVs for two million African patients from local suppliers, Stavros Nicolaou, the head of strategic trade at Aspen Pharmacare, said.

This is key because it will boost production on the continent and because Pepfar, which then-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 25 million lives and allowed at least 5.5 million children to be born free of HIV.

'Pepfar is important because HIV/AIDS still remains one of the most menacing pandemics on the continent," Nicolaou said in an interview. "In Africa, you’ve got such a disproportionate disease burden that when you also aim to grow the economy inclusively, it becomes a dual need" to make drugs on the continent, he said.

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.