Former US president Bill Clinton has announced a deal with six pharmaceutical companies to cut the price of a leading malaria treatment by 30%.
The firms have also reached an agreement to limit the price volatility of artemisinin, the key raw material for artemisinin-based combination therapy.
The deal will make the lower prices for the drug treatment available in 69 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The price of artemisinin, a plant extract used to make anti-malaria drugs, has fluctuated by more than 700% due to a rapid but uneven increase in demand.
The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, the leading ACT supplier, absorbed much of the financial impact of the fluctuation to shield patients from higher prices.
