Two Chinese pharmaceutical firms are hoping to be able to offer new hope to the country's AIDS patients by producing cheap generic versions of Western-made drugs that can curb the disease.
Shanghai Desano and the state-owned Northeast General Pharmaceutical Factory already produce generic versions of some drugs for the export market. However, they said they had applied to the Chinese government for a licence to sell anti-AIDS drugs at home.
If they get the go-ahead it could provide a ray of hope to China's large population of AIDS sufferers for whom Western drugs are too expensive.
At the moment a year's supply of a "cocktail" of imported AIDS therapy costs $10,000 in China, about 20 times the average per capita annual income.
"I can't afford imported drugs so I have to use Chinese medicine," said Mr Li Jiaming, an AIDS sufferer famous in China for keeping an Internet diary of his battle with the disease.
International patents for many AIDS drugs are held by some of the world's largest pharmaceutical firms.
Unlike India, Brazil and Thailand, China has not yet pushed hard to make generic versions of the drug. Some observers say it is afraid of jeopardising its just-completed bid for World Trade Organisation membership.
AFP