E-DRUG: Abbott picks countries where to supply improved ARV
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Abbott Picks and Chooses Which Patients Get Crucial New Version of AIDS Drug in Developing Countries
Bangkok/New York, 6 July 2006 - People living with HIV/AIDS who are in
urgent need of an improved version of the AIDS drug lopinavir/ritonavir
continue to be denied access to it by its sole manufacturer, Abbott
Laboratories, according to the international medical humanitarian
organisation Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
While the Chicago-based company began shipping the new formulation to a
limited number of MSF projects in Africa for $500-per-patient-per-year,
Abbott refuses to sell the drug to MSF for use in its programs in Thailand
and Guatemala and has dragged its feet with registering it in developing
countries.
The new version of lopinavir/ritonavir, a second-line AIDS drug recommended
by the World Health Organization, has critically important advantages over
the old version, including lower pill count, storage without refrigeration,
and no dietary restrictions. But without registration, the drug is
virtually impossible to obtain. In China, not even the old version is
available, because although it is registered, Abbott has chosen not to
market it in the country.
"Here in Thailand, where temperatures exceed 30oC most of the year, this
drug that no longer requires refrigeration is a major advantage, but Abbott
refuses to register it," said Dr. David Wilson, of MSF in Thailand.
"Instead, Abbott says we can make do with the older drug that is no longer
even on the US market, but this is clearly a second-best product and it is
sold here at a price that is not affordable anyway. By limiting its $500
price to the poorest of developing countries, Abbott is adopting a policy
that deliberately excludes people living with HIV/AIDS in other developing
countries."
There is a growing need in developing countries for second-line regimens
for patients that have been on treatment for several years. However, there
is great concern that national treatment programmes and funding agencies
will not be able to afford the prices of these drugs, which are much higher
than those of first-line regimens. In Thailand, Abbott charges at least
$2,800 for the old version of lopinavir/ritonavir, which means that it
costs roughly ten times more to treat a patient who needs to be switched to
a second-line regimen containing this drug.
"This is a classic case of how monopolies hurt patients," said Dr. Tido von
Schoen-Angerer of MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. "We
need generic competition for these newer essential drugs, because it's the
only way to make them affordable and widely available. It should not be up
to a CEO in Chicago to decide who has access to a life-saving medicine."
Sheila Shettle
Communications Officer
Medecins Sans Frontieres
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Rue de Lausanne 78
1211 Geneva
Switzerland
+ 41.22.849.8403
sheila.shettle@geneva.msf.org
www.accessmed-msf.org