The price of the antiretroviral drug Kaletra, used in HIV and Aids
treatment, has been reduced in Thailand after negotiations between the
US manufacturer Abbott Laboratories and the Thai government.
The decision followed a health ministry announcement that Thailand
would issue a compulsory licence for the drug, a device endorsed by the
World Trade Organization allowing the government to produce a
lower-cost version of a medicine in a national emergency without
consulting the foreign patent owner.
This would bring down the monthly price of Kaletra per patient from
$347 to $120 and could save Thailand $24million (£12.5m) a year.
After the negotiations Abbott and the ministry jointly stated that the
price was being cut to widen access to the drug for HIV-positive
patients treated in the public health service who have developed
resistance to other antiretrovirals. The original price will continue
to apply to private hospitals and high-income and foreign patients.
Thailand, where 580,000 people are estimated to be living with HIV and
Aids, has gained international recognition for promptly introducing a
national treatment programme, but the government is worried about drug
costs.
However, a writer in the Wall Street Journal Asia observed that the
only winner in the compulsory Kaletra licence debate would be
‘Thailand’s historically corrupt’ government pharmaceutical
organization. He said the organization’s facilities had not passed the
World Health Organization’s manufacturing standards, and because there
was no data on the quality of the drugs produced by the organization,
‘they are at best approximate copies and should not be labelled
generics’.
