The Globe and Mail: No celebration as target met in AIDS battle: "A bold United Nations plan to get three million people with HIV-AIDS treated with drug cocktails by the end of 2005, which has been widely dismissed as a pipe dream, is on target to meet its goal.

More than 700,000 people in developing countries are receiving treatment under the '3 by 5' plan, the milestone that had been set for the end of 2004. And with many programs now beginning in earnest, the numbers are growing rapidly."

...

"It costs about $2,000 a year to provide anti-retroviral drugs and related treatment to a person with HIV-AIDS in the developing world. Of that total cost, about $400 goes to acquiring the drugs.

Those drugs costs could fall even further. This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a number of generic drugs by Aspen Pharmacare of South Africa. That means the U.S. part of the initiative can now purchase cheaper generic (rather than brand-name drugs) from big pharmaceutical companies."

(Via Google News.)