Discount Price Offered for Kaletra/Aluvia - What Abbott must do next
For Immediate Release
11 April 2007
Oxfam and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) welcome
Abbott’s decision to offer developing countries a
further 55 per cent reduction of its price for
Kaletra/Aluvia, a key HIV medicine. However, Oxfam and
MSF will continues to support the Thailand in
maintaining its compulsory licenses as an alternative
channel for accessing affordable life-saving
medicines. As a next step Abbott should publish a
comprehensive list of all countries eligible for the
price cut.
Oxfam and MSF also call on Abbott to refrain from
further pressuring the Thai government to withdraw
compulsory licenses that can reduce prices on vital
life saving medicines.
‘It is clear that by issuing a compulsory license the
Thai government has been able to make a difference on
how pharmaceutical companies set their prices in
developing country markets. One might wonder why
Abbott had not lowered its price prior to the
government’s move to issue a compulsory license’
Yowalak Thiarachow, Oxfam’s Country Programme Manager
said.
Last year Abbott made a similar announcement that it
was offering a price of $500 per patient per year (for
the heat stable version) in least developed countries
but many of those countries are still waiting for the
drugs to be made available.
"If Abbott are sincere in their offer they should
publish a comprehensive list of all countries eligible
for the heat stable form of Kaletra/Aluvia at a cost
of $1,000 and $500 per patient per year. The list
should also indicate in which of these countries the
new heat stable formulation is registered and
available and in which countries the registration is
still pending or is yet to be started" said Paul
Cawthorne, MSF's Head of Mission in Thailand. "Without
these assurances this offer is nothing more than a PR
stunt. We need to see the tablets reaching the
patients"
Abbott’s decision comes after Thai Ministry of Public
Health issued a compulsory license for the Kaletra in
an effort to ensure government procurement of a
generic version and thus a massive cost savings to
provide the drug to patients on the national health
security scheme. Currently Kaletra costs 72,000 Baht
(US$ 2,060) per patient per year in Thailand. In 2007
at least 50,000 people affected by HIV will require a
second line ARV drug including Kaletra. The cost of
providing all these people life saving second line
medicines would be approximately 3.6 billion Baht (US$
102 million).
‘Abbotts decision confirms the effectiveness of
compulsory licensing as one of the main tools in
promoting generic competition and serves as a
deterrent for pharmaceutical companies to retain their
monopoly and thus set unaffordable prices. It also
confirms the crucial role of generic competition in
setting up a benchmark for low prices,’ Thiarachow
added.
Thailand is fully within its lawful rights under the
international TRIPS Agreement and under national laws
to issue compulsory licenses for priority medicines
for non-commercial use within the health system.
However, four weeks ago, in a direct retaliation for
that decision, Abbott took the unprecedented step to
withdraw the registration of seven of its medicines
from the Thai drug regulatory process. One of the
seven medicines in question is Aluvia, the heat-stable
form of Kaletra that is most appropriate for use in a
tropical country like Thailand. Abbott’s action coldly
blocks access of people in need of these drugs for
their survival.
Despite its announcement of a lower price for Kaletra
and Aluvia, Abbott has still not reversed its decision
to withdraw the registration of the seven medicines
from the Thai market. Abbott should, without any
further delay, re-register the seven medicines in
question to ensure that people in need can access
these drugs quickly. Otherwise, the announcement would
mean nothing as the drug will not be available in the
Thai market
End
For further information please contact:
Oxfam - Kingkorn Narintarakul at 02 6567615 est. 110
or 0815308339
MSF – Paul Cawthorne at 0819873206
