E-drug: AIDS drug price reductions for Senegal
---------------------------------------------
Re: The price reductions of AIDS drugs for Senegal, as reported in the
Wall Street Journal, Oct. 27, 2000.
This new type of "differential pricing" is a good thing for the
patients of Senegal. But it raises many questions. One could ask,
for example, if it is not more logical and efficient in the long term
to buy generics.
In Brazil, for example, the price in 2000 (which will undoubtedly be
lower next year), for the Stavudine-Didanosine drug combination was
from $2.60 per day. BMS offered its combination, Zerit-Videx, at
$1.60/day to Senegal. Today in Brazil, AZT/3TC costs $1.40/day.
Glaxo would offer Combivir for "less than $2 a day" to Senegal.
It is possible to find other generics with similar prices made by
other manufacturers, for example, in India. The prices continue to
decrease due to competition. (see the MSF report, ""HIV/AIDS
medicines pricing report. Setting objectives: is there a political
will?" Available at http://www.accessmed-msf.org) In fact, could it
not be the possibility of competition from generics that has caused
these pharmaceutical firms, including BMS or Glaxo, to reduce their
prices to Senegal? Or, is the response of the firms really based on
their desire to participate in improving the public health of poor
countries? Doubts are raised when one reads that "Some of the
companies also don't want to publicize the exact prices to which they
are agreeing, because they want the flexibility to negotiate different
prices with other nations."
There are more and more antiretrovirals (ARVs) that are becoming
available as generics, to the point where we can establish today an
adequate therapeutic protocol for HIV/AIDS using the generic
medicines. On the other hand, if each country has to negotiate the
price of each product with each big multinational pharmaceutical, and
if these
negotiations are not conclusive we may be faced with a situation in
which price reductions are obtained for only one product of the
protocol. What about the others?
And this is not even mentioning the time and energy that these
negotiations have certainly required from the Senegalese negotiators.
Finally, a fundamental question remains: on which conditions have
these offers been made? And what obligations must the Senegalese have
accepted? One would hope for more transparency on these agreements in
order to be fully satisfied with these price reductions.
Carmen Perez-Casas
Access to essential medicines
Medecins sans Frontieres
Laure_BONNEVIE@geneva.msf.org
[email added manually. BS]
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.