South Africa to Set up State-run Pharma to Lower AIDS Drugs Prices

South Africa has decided to take HIV drug pricing into its own hands by setting up its own drug company to help provide such medicines.

After years of complaining that the cost of AIDS drugs was too high, the South African government says it will start a state-run drug company in an effort to push prices down.

South Africa has 5.7 million people infected with HIV, Reuters reports. South Africa uses about one-quarter of the anti-retroviral drugs used across the globe, African National Congress leader Gwede Mantashe told the news service. So, it makes sense for the country to set up its own pharma firm to help provide those meds, Mantashe said. He didn't provide details about the move, however.

If South Africa follows through on its pledge, the state-run firm would enter a market in which leading companies such as Aspen Pharmacare and Adcock Ingram sell hundreds of millions' worth of HIV meds.