Generic producer cleared to make AIDS drugs for Rwanda

A generic pharmaceutical company has permission to produce the first HIV-AIDS drugs under Canada's three-year-old Access to Medicines Regime.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has given consent to generic drug manufacturer Apotex to make an antiretroviral medication for the treatment of HIV-AIDS patients in Rwanda.

Consent was required because GSK has patent rights for two molecules contained in the antiretroviral (ARV), zidovudine and lamivudine.

The 2004 medicinal access programenables the federal government to authorize production of certain patented medicines for export to countries desperate for drugs to help control the AIDS pandemic.

But the program has been criticized by AIDS activists because not one pill has been exported since its inception.

GSK has agreed to waive royalties because Apotex will supply its generic antiretroviral drug to Rwanda on a no-profit basis.