Study Says Only Half Of Chinese With HIV/AIDS Have Drug Access

Researchers in China have concluded that half of the nation's 700,000 HIV/AIDS patients have ceased drug treatments, most because they no longer have access to the medicines. Research carried out by China's CDC said the results are consistent with other reports of access in low- and middle-income countries. Under a government program launched in 2002, patients were to have access to drugs for free, but that plan failed to treat half the eligible group through 2008. The primary drugs used are GlaxoSmithKline's Retrovir (zidovudine) andEpivir (lamivudine), and Boehringer Ingelheim's Viramune (nevirapine). (Click here for more