Clinton announces anti-malaria drug deal

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton says a price-cutting deal has been reached with some of the world's leading manufacturers of anti-malaria drugs.

Clinton said his foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, has signed an agreement with six companies in China and India to sell the drugs at lower prices to about 70 countries.

The agreements are with two suppliers at three levels of the supply chain raw material, processing and final formulation and the foundation hopes to add more suppliers.

"Today, the supply as well as the demand have led to these dramatic fluctuations in prices," Clinton said Thursday in New York. "Our goal, among other things, is to make sure this little plant is available in sufficient supply and over time, we can rationalize these prices."

The "little plant" is Artemisinin, a plant extract that is increasingly replacing the standard malarial treatment of Chloroquine, to which the malaria parasite has developed a resistance in many parts of the world. Prices of Aremisinin have been fluctuating between $155 to $1,100 per kilogram in recent years.

The former president in 2002 established an HIV/AIDS initiative that sought to negotiate lower prices for antiretroviral treatments, and he since has expanded his focus to include malaria treatments such as artemisinin-based combination therapies, or ACTs.

Malaria kills about one million people a year, with children making up half of all the fatalities.