E-DRUG: Brazilian government offers help to African countries
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[copied from TREATMENT ACCESS with thanks; WB]
Brazilian government offers help to African countries
- Francisco Mingorance
An important outcome of the Roundtable on HIV/AIDS Treatment Access
Consensus in Geneva (*) was the announcement by the Brazilian
representatives that they are willing to provide drugs, technology and
training to African nations. This announcement is significant because of
the price reductions Brazil has achieved through the use of generics,
off-patent drugs and successful negotiations with Pharmaceutical
companies.
Prior to her arrival in Geneva, Dr. Eloan dos Santos Pinheiro, Director
of the Brazilian Institute of Drug Technology (Far-Manguinhos), had a
meeting at the Ministry of Health, on what Brazil is willing to bring to
African nations in terms of infrastructure, technology transfer and
training.
Brazil now confirms its intention to provide infrastructure, technology
transfer and training in Africa. One significant condition the Brazil
has imposed is that these medications must be free to those that need
them.
The proposal from Brazil (**) includes:
a) Transfer of the industrial production technology of the following
drugs:
DDI, Stavudine, Lamivudine, Lamivudine+Zidovudine, Nevirapine,
Zidovudine, Indinavir, Zalcitabine.
This technology transfer includes the methodologies for chemical
analysis of raw materials and finished products, dissolution test and
stability test.
The aim is the implementation of local production.
b) Personnel training in the analytical techniques used by
Far-Manguinhos :
NMR , IR , UV-VIS , HPLC , GC , GC-MS and others.
c) Supply with generic anti-viral drugs of African countries as long as
an agreement is settled between governments and the distribution of the
drugs is done for free to the population, the same way as it is done by
the Brazilian government.
d) Implementation of the governmental infrastructure for the logistic of
the drugs distribution to the population.
e) Implementation of the laboratory network to control the CD4 level
and the viral charge.
Is this a possible quick fix?
In Brazil, the average price for drugs - alone for double or triple
therapy - is 4,137USD per a person per a year. [see table below with
detailed drug prices]. The total cost of treatment for the 90 000
Brazilian HIV/AIDS patients is of nearly 400 Mio USD per year. This
would translate into a cost of about 95 billion USD (per a year) to
treat 23 million HIV positive people in sub-Saharan Africa. Without
international financial support no African country can afford this cost.
During the roundtable, it was understood that the Government of Brazil
purchases some drugs from a multinational company as the price is
sometimes less than they could produce locally. Thus, generic
manufacture does not always mean the lowest price. Also, the patent
situation in Brazil - where ARVs are largely generic due to the patent
law changing only in 1996 - may be different in countries importing
product and technology from Brazil.
Francisco Mingorance
Fondation du Pr�sent
Email: paco@hivnet.ch
(*) The Roundtable on Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Treatment Access Consenus
was held in Geneva on June 19th and 20th. Participants included the five
pharmaceutical manufacturers involved in the announcement (Merck,
Hoffman La Roche, Boehringer, Glaxo-Welcome, Bristol Meyer Squibb), UN
agencies (UNAIDS, WHO, WIPO, WTO) African (Cote d Ivoire, Nambia,
Uganda, and South Africa) and Brazilian government representatives,
national and international NGO s and the private sector. The Roundtable
was organized by the Fondation du Present in collaboration with the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and with support from
the Ford Foundation. .
(**) Source: MOH. For further information, please contact:
1) Dr. Eloan dos Santos Pinheiro
Director - Far-Manguinhos, Brazil
Fax: +55 (21) 290-1297
E-mail: eloan@far.fiocruz.br
Or
2) Dr. Paulo Roberto Teixeira
Coodinador General National AIDS Program, Brazil
Fax: +55 (61) 315-2643
E-mail: pteixeira@aids.gov.br
note: Dr. Teixeira will be attending the Durban Conference
******** Table :HIV/AIDS drugs in Brazil,
PRICE LIST OF DRUGS PRODUCED BY FAR-MANGUINHOS
DESCRIPTION CONTENT PACK UNIT PHARMACEUTICAL
PRICE
Didanosine 25 mg 60 tablet 0.19
Didanosine 50 mg 60 tablet 0.35
Didanosine 100 mg 60 tablet 0.67
Stavudine 20 mg 60 capsule 0.15
Stavudine 30 mg 60 capsule 0.21
Stavudine 40 mg 60 capsule 0.28
Lamivudine 150 mg 60 tablet 0.72
Lamivudine 150 +
+ Zidovudine 300 mg 60 tablet 0.70
Indinavir 400mg 60 capsule 1.72
Nevirapine 200mg 60 tablet 2.29
Zalcitabine 0,75mg 100 tablet 0.10
Zidovudine 100mg 100 capsule 0.18
Source : PRICE LIST OF DRUGS PRODUCED BY FAR-MANGUINHOS, MOH BrazilLast
Review on 06/27/2000
Price in US$ -
Exchange US$1.00=R$1,85