¡¡¡¡PANAMA CITY, Jan. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- The governments of Costa Rica,El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama have reached an agreement with five US and European pharmaceutical firms to reduce the cost of medicines for AIDS patients.

¡¡¡¡Under the agreement, the cost of the anti-retrovirus drugs against the HIV virus and AIDS will be cut by an average of 55 percent, said Fernando Gracia, Panama's Health Minister, on Wednesday.

¡¡¡¡Gracia estimated that nearly 180,000 HIV-positives live in the Central America and 16,000 of them need a treatment known as "triple therapy" which costs 1,035 US dollar to 1,454 dollars a year.

¡¡¡¡He said the agreement will come into effect after each country holds respective negotiations with the US and European firms.

¡¡¡¡The negotiations with the laboratories were coordinated by the Central American Social Integration Department with the support ofthe Panamerican Health Organization.

¡¡¡¡The six governments also committed themselves to establishing necessary programs to look after persons that suffer from HIV-AIDS,including clinical management, laboratory monitoring, infirmary and socio-emotional support. Enditem