The page cannot be found

The announcement Sunday by HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson allows for the Food and Drug Administration to grant fast-track approval to new fixed-dose combination medications, including those made by generic manufacturers in India, making the drugs eligible for purchase as part of the Presidents $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The Administration is creating a solution that will both greatly expand access to critical life saving medications and ensure that Africans receive the same standard of care that we insist on for Americans, said Mason, founder and executive director of ARP. This bold step will allow those in the greatest need to be confident that the medications they receive are safe and effective, and backed by assurances from the worlds leading regulatory authority. Mason is also chair of the International Subcommittee of the Presidents Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).

The new treatments combine multiple drugs into one pill, making treatment easier for patients and increasing compliance with medication. Supporters say that use of single dos medicines may help slow the development of individual resistance to AIDS medications and reduce the possibility of drug-resistant strains from emerging.

The decision comes after PACHA unanimously passed a resolution at its March meeting calling for funds spent to purchase medications under the Presidents initiative be used only on drugs that meet comparable standards for safety, quality and effectiveness as would be necessary for drug approval in the U.S. or any other country with drug approval standards of comparable scientific rigor.

Following Secretary Thompsons statement, three major pharmaceutical companies, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Company, and Merck & Co., Inc., announced that they would work together to develop a combination drug using their patented medications to compete with currently available generic drugs made by Indian manufacturers.

Not only will this decision help speed drugs where they are needed most, said Mason, it has already begun to spur the innovative solutions we will need to halt this terrible pandemic.

ARP was founded in 2003 to educate key policy makers and the general public to the unique needs of traditionally underserved HIV/AIDS-affected populations and to develop strategies and solutions to overcome barriers to treatment.

In 2002, Mason was appointed to serve as a member of PACHA, where he is chairman of the International Subcommittee. PACHA provides advice, information and recommendations to the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding policies to promote the effective prevention, treatment and research and care of HIV disease and AIDS in the U.S. and around the world.