Merck cuts price on AIDS drug Efavirenz
Source: Reuters
(Adds drug industry group) By Nopporn Wong-Anan BANGKOK, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Merck & Co. announced on Thursday price cuts for its HIV-AIDS drug, Efavirenz, in poor countries and those hard hit by the disease, including Thailand which plans to make copycat versions of the medicine. Thailand, which shocked Merck in November when it announced plans to break the company's patent for Efavirenz, would see its price drop to 700 baht ($19.59) per patient per month. Merck had previously sold Efavirenz at a non-profit price of 1,300 baht per treatment per month in Thailand, which plans to import Indian-made versions of the drug for 800 baht per month until it is available from Thailand's state-owned drug maker. "Merck is lowering the price of the 600 mg formulation of Efavirenz due to efficiencies resulting from improved manufacturing processes," the company said. A spokesman for Merck's Thai subsidiary also attributed the lower Thai price to a more favourable exchange rate. Last month, the Health Ministry issued compulsory licences for the heart disease drug Plavix, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis and Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra to treat HIV/AIDS after a similar move on another AIDS drug last year. The licences, which Thai health officials said would save the country up to 800 million baht ($24 million) a year, drew praise from AIDS activists but flak from Washington and the drug industry, which are urging the ministry to rescind them. The head of a drug industry body said on Thursday the military-appointed government should stop using compulsory licences as a negotiating tactic to force drug companies to slash their prices. "We don't want to see compulsory licences used as a bargaining chip," Teera Chakajnarodom, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers' Association of Thailand (PReMA), told Reuters. Under World Trade Organisation rules, a government is allowed to declare a national emergency and license the production or sale of a patented drug without the permission of the foreign patent owner. But drug companies say Thailand violated the spirit of the rules because it gave no prior warning of its decision to issue such licences. PReMA has said Thailand plans to break the foreign patents of another 11 HIV/AIDS, cancer and heart drugs, a move that may prompt firms to withhold new drugs from the Thai market. "If they actually issue compulsory licences on those drugs, we will not give them any discount," said Teera, whose association has 38 member firms, mostly from Europe and the United States. Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said on Monday a ministry panel was studying a list of drugs Thailand needed and could make or buy copies while haggling for best prices of patented versions. He did not name the drugs. ($1=35.73 Baht)
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