NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Bill  Clinton and drugmakers Pfizer and Matrix Laboratories Ltd  announced a deal yesterday to lower the cost of treatments  for patients with drug-resistant forms of HIV/AIDS.

Second-line antiretroviral therapies and a drug used to  treat tuberculosis for those with drug-resistant HIV/AIDS will  be made available at a reduced cost and in more convenient  regimens, saving as many as hundreds of thousands of lives in  the developing world, Clinton said. “Today’s announcement will help ensure we can sustain  treatment over a lifetime and better treat patients with both  HIV and TB, two key steps in turning the tide of the global  HIV/AIDS pandemic,” Clinton told reporters at his foundation’s  headquarters in Manhattan.

Starting in 2010, Matrix, a unit of U.S.-based Mylan Inc,  will make four drugs available at a cost of $425 per year. The  discount will result in $400 million in savings over the next  five years compared to prices commonly paid for alternative  regimens, the foundation said.