Cancer research companies have decided to join hands to help cancer victims in Africa. This is in the same fashion that has been adopted to fight AIDS in the continent. As a result, there are two major pharmaceutical manufacturers that have announced that they will offer a discount to these drugs. These two companies are working in association with the American Cancer Society, and they include Mumbai based Cipla and New York-based Pfizer. They have signed a pact that will see them offer 16 common chemotherapy drugs to African countries with rock-bottom prices. At the moment, the deal is open to half-dozen nations and is expected to bring treatment to tens of thousands who were on their death beds. Pfizer said that it would sell these drugs just above the cost that has been incurred during manufacturing. Some of its drugs in these nations will cost less than 50 cents while some of the infusions will be sold for just $10. This happens to be a small portion compared to what they charge in the developed nations. At the same time, the two manufacturers said that there is an added advantage for the African countries as top American oncologists are working on a plan of simplifying cancer treatment guidelines to something that the Africans can understand.
Things are more interesting as there is a deal to collaborate with IBM programmers to compress these guidelines into a tool that will be availed to every African oncologist who has an internet connection. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said that he was fascinated when he read about the deal. He also says that he developed some Goosebumps on seeing the deal. He referred to the deal as a great idea and further said that it would produce massive results. This plan reminded him of 15 years ago when he was involved in the draft of the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids relief that was geared towards helping alleviate Africans from AIDS. This program that was commonly referred to as pepfar was very successful as it helped over 14 million Africans. According to Dr. Fauci, this works by finding the country that has been affected most and establishing how much it could cost lowering the drug to a level that these people can afford. Statistics from World Health Organization say that cancer kills approximately 450,000 people in Africa every year.
