Pfizer to donate anti-fungal AIDS drugs

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Pfizer Inc. announced Wednesday that it will offer Diflucan antifungal medicine at no charge to HIV/AIDS patients in the 50 least-developed countries as identified by the United Nations where HIV/AIDS is most prevalent.

Diflucan is not an anti-retroviral medication such as those that make up what is known as "AIDS cocktails," used in HIV-infected patients to prevent them from getting full blown AIDS. Instead, it is used to treat such opportunistic infections as cryptoccal meningitis, a life-threatening illness often seen in AIDS patients.

At a news conference, Pfizer Chairman and CEO Henry McKinnell said the medication will be provided free to those who need it, with no dollar limit or time limit set on the program. Distribution will begin as quickly as possible, McKinnell said.

"We will support this initiative for as long as it is needed, and we will continue to work with the United Nations, the (World Health Organization) and other international organizations to ensure public/private partnerships like the Diflucan program can be most effective," he added.

McKinnell said the initiative expands upon the existing South African Diflucan Partnership Program, a collaboration between Pfizer and the South African Ministry of Health. McKinnell said Pfizer will spend $50 million over two years on the pilot program in South Africa.

In a written statement, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said UNAIDS welcomes Pfizer's decision to expand access to fluconazole -- the generic term for Diflucan -- in the poorest developing countries.

"We look forward to this new program being implemented as swiftly and as broadly as possible, and to its significant impact in the treatment of fungal brain infections and esophageal candidiasis, which are common among AIDS patients," Piot said.

UNAIDS estimates that 36 million people worldwide are now living with HIV, about 70 percent of those in Africa. Almost 22 million people have lost their lives to the disease.