Although Zimbabwe is not a direct participant in the antiretroviral drug pricing accord established with pharmaceutical companies by the Clinton Foundation this week, the country will indirectly benefit from price reductions on 16 ARV formulations.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that his foundation's deal with generic drug makers Cipla and Matrix will slash the cost of second-line antiretrovirals. Second-line drugs are prescribed when a patient resists more common first-line therapies.

The deal will reduce the price of the so-called once-a-day antiretroviral drug to less than one U.S. dollar. The Clinton Foundation said the price reductions were made possible by UNITAID, the international drug purchase facility established by France, Brazil, Chile, Norway and the United Kingdom last year.

Zimbabwean HIV/AIDS activist Lynde Francis, director of The Center in Harare, told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that deals with other countries will let Zimbabwe purchase the drugs at the same low prices, as was the case when the Foundation and Brazil negotiated a forerunner drug-price deal.

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