Cheaper HIV/AIDS drugs deal for developing world

A long overdue step to the right direction! People are dying from not able to buy pricey drugs. This is simply not acceptable to the modern human conscience. This is only a first step reducing the price of the drugs. Loosening grip on patents so that cheaper version of generic drugs could be delivered in the developing nations where more rural villages and forgotten towns and cities could be brought under this noble program would be highly appreciated from these parts of our globe. Read the following excerpts:

The prices of so-called second-line treatments negotiated by Clinton's foundation would fall on average 25 pct in low-income countries and 50 pct in middle-income countries, he said.

His foundation had also negotiated a deal allowing the one-pill-a-day first-line treatment to be made available for less than a dollar a day for developing countries -- a 45 pct saving on the current price in Africa.

He also made a dig at pharmaceutical companies who refuse to allow their patented drugs to be made available as generic alternatives in poor countries.

'No company will ever die because of the high price premium for AIDS drugs in middle-income countries, but patients may,' he said.

I am still not sure what does really mean when it was said that "second-line treatments....would fall on average 25 pct in low-income countries and 50 pct in middle-income countries" ----why the price would fall less (25%) in the low income nations while falling more (50%) in the middle-income nations? Does it make sense? Is there other factors involved that is not mentioned in the above news?

Regards,
Sohel

Read the full article from the Forbes magazine link below:
Cheaper HIV/AIDS drugs deal for developing world