Henan using traditional medicines to fight AIDS
Guo Nei
2004-05-04 06:04
Patent expiration for major AIDS-treatment medicines, such as Zidovudine, Stavudine, Didanosine and Zalcitabine, has lowered the yearly treatment costs for an AIDS patient in China from at least 40,000 yuan (US$4,831) before 2002 to less than 20,000 yuan (US$2,415) at present. But it is still too overwhelming for average Chinese AIDS and HIV patients, most of whom have lost their sources of income.
The Ministry of Health estimated there were 840,000 HIV/AIDS patients in China in 2003.
Experts and industry insiders believe the use of traditional Chinese medicines can help further reduce AIDS treatment costs, expecting the cost of combining traditional Chinese medicines with chemical drugs to treat HIV/AIDS patients to range between 4,000 yuan (US$483) and 6,000 yuan (US$725) per year.
There is great potential for traditional Chinese medicines to help treat HIV/AIDS, said Lin Ruichao, director of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Beijing-based National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceuticals and Biological Products.
chinadaily.com.cn |
