Life-Saving Drugs Could Soon Be Made More Affordable As Giant Rats Trained To Detect Tuberculosis In Tanzania & Mozambique Prisons

GlaxoSmithKline - AFP

The drugs company, GlaxoSmithKline or GSK, says it will make it easier for manufacturers in the world's poorest countries to copy its medicines.

BBC News report continues:

It announced it won't file patents in what are described as least developed and low income countries, which include many in Africa. 

Pharmaceutical firms are often criticized because their drugs are unaffordable to the world's poorest.  

They say that patenting their products is the only way to ensure research for new treatments can be funded.

GSK's announcement should be good news for people struggling to afford medicine.

Some progress has been made in recent years. 

Increased competition among generic drug manufacturers led to a huge drop in the price of medicine for people living with HIV/Aids.  

But cancer cases in Africa are on the increase and treatment can cost many thousands of dollars.

GSK says its next generation of cancer medicine will be more affordable.

Meanwhile BBC News also report that rats are already used to sniff out landmines, but now they are going to be used to sniff out tuberculosis (TB) in Tanzania and Mozambique.

Scientists from Apopo, a non-governmental organization, have trained African giant pouched rats to detect the disease.

The organization will use them in crowded prisons, where TB often goes undiagnosed, because prisoners do not have money or awareness to go to screenings.

Apopo, Belgian non-governmental organization trains rats are already used to sniff out landmines