The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it has held a meeting with nine pharmaceutical companies to negotiate cuts in the price of antiretroviral drugs used to treat AIDS.
The CDC said yesterday it expects them to set an example of social responsibility in the industry and to contribute positively to sustaining treatment programs that the government has been carrying out for years.
The CDC said that several drug companies agreed to lower prices by 2.1 percent to 17.5 percent last year, helping the government to save NT$170 million (US$5.7 million). It added that it expects negotiations to result in another 15 percent price reduction for drugs for AIDS treatments this year.
According to the CDC, in 1997 the government began to assign a budget for the purchase of drugs required for Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), the aggressive treatment regimens used to suppress the HIV viral load and maintain the function of patients’ immune systems.
The financial burden was transferred to the National Health Insurance in 1998, but was again shouldered by the government in 2006, and has since remained that way.
With the cumulative increase in the number of surviving patients, government expenditure on treatments and drugs has been rising at a pace of 18 percent a year, the center said. Last year alone, approximately NT$3 billion was spent on AIDS treatments, NT$2.58 billion of which was for drugs.
Most of the antiretroviral drugs are still patented and are thus expensive, the CDC said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
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