Italy funds AIDS project in South Africa
To promote HIV/AIDS medicine production
The Italian government is to fund a €9m United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)-coordinated project promoting HIV/AIDS medicine production in South Africa.
UNIDO said the scheme would help develop a good manufacturing practice (GMP)-compliant line of production to manufacture vaccines in South Africa and conduct a therapeutic clinical trial with an anti-HIV vaccine candidate developed at the Italian Institute of Health (ISS).
UNIDO also said the funding will help it work with South Africa in promoting local production of active pharmaceutical ingredients for anti-retroviral drugs.
‘These ingredients are currently imported…a potential threat to the long term sustainability of HIV/aids treatment programmes,’ the organisation said.