Thailand's Do-It-Yourself Therapy

BANGKOK, THAILAND—Eight people dressed in matching blue protective gear, wearing face masks or complete oxygen hoods, sit together at a long table, looking for all the world like disease detectives preparing to attack an outbreak of a rare virus ravaging the local population. Indeed, that's their mission, but they're not bug detectives. These workers are in the vanguard of a movement to bring anti-HIV drugs to patients in poor countries at affordable prices: They spend their days filling bottles with anti-HIV pills (the masks prevent inhalation of the medicine) that the Thai government is manufacturing and plans soon to make widely available here.