Lascelles Chin (centre) chairman of Lasco Distributors, Minister of Health John Junor (left) and Chief Medical Officer in the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Peter Figueroa, (right) in discussion at the Terra Nova Hotel, St. Andrew, on Wednesday, after LASCO helped the HIV/AIDS cause by donating drugs to the Ministry's HIV/AIDS treatment and support programme to assist in treating HIV positive mothers and their children. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer LASCO DISTRIBUTORS Ltd., through its pharmaceutical division and in partnership with Indian generic pharmaceutical company, CIPLA, increased its involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS on Wednesday. The company pledged to assist the Ministry of Health's HIV/AIDS treatment and support programme by donating drugs that will assist in treating HIV-positive mothers and their children.
CIPLA, which produces Lasco marketed drugs, is offering to Jamaicans the Nevirapine Solution, a drug that when administered to HIV-positive pregnant mothers, helps prevent the transmission of the disease to the child. It is offering a two-year supply to the Jamaican public, valued at $300,000.
In addition to this, chairman of Lasco Distributors, Lascelles Chin said, Lasco is also donating to the Ministry, a three year supply of anti-retroviral drugs for triple therapy that will be issued to some of the infected mothers and children. The offer is valued at $5 million.
"This, we realise, is just a start and we hope that other companies and individuals will contribute to help the fight against HIV/AIDS," Mr. Chin said at a press conference at the Terra Nova Hotel, St. Andrew. "It is very costly and the Government needs our help."
Health Minister John Junor said that the cost of treating HIV/AIDS was taking its toll on the health sector and that by 2005, about 6.4 per cent of the country's Gross National Product (GNP) would be spent on treating the pandemic. The Minister said that, in order to win the fight against the disease, more resources would have to be dedicated to supporting interventions over the next five years. He has also said that a significant number of sufferers do not have access to the life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs, due to the high cost of the drugs.
The drugs donated by Lasco will give infected mothers and children a better chance of living longer, healthier and have more productive lives, Mr. Chin said. The Ministry will determine those persons who will benefit from the donation.
Last year Lasco also lowered the prices on HIV/AIDS medication allowing people living with HIV/AIDS to pay significantly less for the cost of their drugs.
Lasco's pharmaceutical division launched the new line of LASMED (Life's Affordable Alternative) pharmaceutical products and anti-retrovirals in LASMED Pharmaceutical Medicines, a few of which were nearly 90 per cent cheaper than existing brand name drugs.
The effort was lauded by Ainsley Reid, of the Jamaica Network for Seropositives, who said that one of the major challenges to people with HIV was the availability and cost of drugs.
Dr. Charlton Collie, lung specialist at the University Hospital, said that a patient who was paying $35,000 monthly for drugs would now pay around $10,000 through LASCO's initiative.
