London - The first glimmers of hope for a solution to the AIDS epidemic ravaging the poorest countries in Africa emerged yesterday when five of the world's largest drug companies pledged to slash the price of treatment in the developing world. With one in four people infected in some of the worst hit African countries, and life expectancy tumbling by up to 10 years, one Western pharmaceutical giant said it would cut the price of treatment from $16 a day to about $2.
The Clinton administration also announced it would drop its threat to use trade sanctions against countries such as South Africa planning to produce cheap generic copies of existing Western medicines.