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March 27, 2001. Abbott announced a price cut for two drugs (Ritonavir and
Kaletra)and its HIV test, Determine. The dollar amount of the price cut is not
specified - the company offers to sell the drugs and test "at no profit."
March 14, 2001. Bristol-Myers Squibb announces that "The patent for
Zerit [d4T]... will be made available at no cost to treat AIDS in South
Africa." It also offers full transparency in pricing for drugs in Africa, pledges
to raise funding for its Secure the Future program to $115 million, and offers
to sell ddI and Zerit "below cost" (however, at a price over twice as high as that
charged by generics firms).
March 7, 2001. Merck offers to sell Crixivan for $600 per patient
per year and Stocrin for $500 per patient per year. Merck originally claimed
that, unlike the price reductions offered by multinational pharmaceutical
firms last year (including Merck) through the Accelerating Access Initiative,
this lower price is available immediately. However, that afternoon Merck made
it clear that it would not offer the lower prices to all poor countries, and
that the deal would need to be worked out on a country-by-country basis.
In October 2002, Merck annouced further cuts in the price for
Stocrin from the (already reduced) price of $1.37 per patient
per day to $0.95 per patient per day in the poorest, hardest-hit
countries. The price for middle-development countries with
less than 1% HIV prevalence will be $2.10 per patient per day,
down from $2.52.
February 7, 2001. Cipla,
an Indian generic drug manufacturer, offered to supply triple-combination therapy
for HIV/AIDS for $350 per patient per year to Medicins San Frontieres. It also
offered to sell the therapy for $600 per patient per year to poor governments, on the
condition that the recipient governments provide the drugs for free to those with HIV/AIDS.
The cocktail consists of two 40 milligram tablets of stavudine, two 150 milligram tablets
of lamivudine and two 200 milligram tablets of nevirapine. The cost of this regimen in
developed nations is $10,000- $15,000 annually.
On May 11, 2000, GlaxoWellcome, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Boehringer-Ingelheim,
and Roche entered into this initiative along with UNAIDS, the World Health Organization,
UNICEF, the World Bank, and the UN Development Program. The goal is to improve access
to HIV/AIDS drugs in developing countries. Drug discounts are negotiated on a
country-by-country basis. By April 9, 2001, the program has succeeded in getting
drugs discounted in six countries: Rwanda, Uganda, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon
and Mali.
Recent Documents
GlaxoSmithKline
Abbott
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Boehringer-Ingelheim
Merck
Cipla
Accelerating Access Initiative
Misc.
News Stories
Corrections or suggestions to Mike Palmedo
mpalmedo@cptech.org