Former US president Bill Clinton has roped in four Indian and two Chinese pharmaceutical firms to cut the price of anti-malarial drugs by a whopping 30 per cent, which is likely to benefit 500 million people worldwide. The firms have also agreed to lower the price volatility of artemisinin, the key raw material for artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), by 70 per cent, said Clinton, whose charitable foundation helped broker the deal. The agreements make prices for malaria drugs more affordable and sustainable to help meet growing global demands. The prices will be available to the 69 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, which make up the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) purchasing consortium. "Nearly every life lost to malaria could have been saved with access to effective medicines," Clinton said. Under the agreements negotiated by CHAI, the Mumbai-based IPCA and Cipla will offer a co-blister formulation of artesunate + amodiaquine (AS + AQ)