DEVELOPMENT REPORT – U.S. Approves Foreign-Made AIDS Treatm

DEVELOPMENT REPORT – U.S. Approves Foreign-Made AIDS Treatment for Developing Nations
By Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: Monday, February 21, 2005

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Development Report.

The United States Food and Drug Administration has given early approval to a lower-cost AIDS treatment for developing nations. The manufacturer is Aspen Pharmacare of South Africa. This is the first time the Food and Drug Administration has approved foreign-made copies of drugs to treat H.I.V. infections.

Different drugs are generally used together to suppress H.I.V., the virus the causes AIDS. The newly approved treatment involves two pills taken two times a day. It is a generic² copy of one of the most widely used combinations of antiretroviral drugs. These drugs generally cost about six hundred dollars a year. But Aspen is expected to sell its copies for perhaps half the price.

Final approval by the F.D.A. is still needed. But the agency says its action means that the drugs meets the same quality and safety requirements as medicines for the United States. And that means President Bush's emergency AIDS plan could pay for them.

Congress approved the five-year, fifteen thousand million dollar plan in two thousand three. But officials decided³ not to pay for drugs unless the F.D.A. had approved them. AIDS activists⁴ accused the United States of protecting drug makers⁵ from competition from lower-cost versions of their drugs.

Such criticism led the F.D.A. last year to establish a faster approval process. Agency officials say they completed their work within two weeks after Aspen requested approval.

The Bush administration says it hopes to provide AIDS treatment for two million people by two thousand eight. Most will be in Africa and the Caribbean.

The number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment in developing countries has increased sharply. The World Health Organization reports that seven hundred thousand people were receiving treatment by the end of last year. That was up about seventy-five percent from a year earlier. And it met a target for two thousand four.

W.H.O. Director General Lee Jong-wook praised the increase when he appeared last month at the World Economic Forum⁶ in Davos, Switzerland. However, he warned that governments and the international community need to do more.

The W.H.O. wants three million people living with AIDS to be receiving antiretroviral medicines by the end of two thousand five. This is known as the "three-by-five" campaign.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. I'm Gwen Outen.

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。