Former President Bill Clinton plans to announce today that his foundation has negotiated lower prices on AIDS tests and on two important AIDS drugs.

Four companies, from the United States, India and China, will offer rapid H.I.V. tests for 49 cents to 65 cents, which will reduce the typical cost of a test in poor countries by half, Mr. Clinton said in a written statement. Another four companies - three from India and one from South Africa - will make the antiretroviral drug efavirenz for as little as $240 per patient per year. One of the Indian companies, Cipla, will also make the antiretroviral abacavir for $447.

The most common three-drug combination pill for H.I.V. now costs $136 per year, so the new drugs, even at steep discounts from the thousands of dollars they cost in the West, can easily triple the cost of therapy. But as patients become resistant to their first-line drugs, doctors must have new options.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation acts as a broker, meeting with the health ministries of about 50 poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and with drug makers.