[suite aux récents évènements en Thaïlande, Merck annonce une deuxième
réduction du prix de l'Efavirenz pour les pays en développement et pour les
pays très touchés par le sida.CB]
Merck cuts price on AIDS drug Efavirenz
February 15, 2007 04:20:14 AM PST
Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. announced on Thursday a reduction in the
price of its HIV-AIDS drug, Efavirenz, for poor countries and those hit hard
by the disease, including Thailand.
Thailand, which shocked the drug maker in November when it announced plans
to break Merck's patent in order to buy or make generic copies of Efavirenz,
would see its price drop to 700 baht per patient per month, the company said
in a statement.
Merck had previously sold Efavirenz at a non-profit price of 1,300 baht per
treatment per month in Thailand.
"Merck is lowering the price of the 600 mg formulation of Efavirenz due to
efficiencies resulting from improved manufacturing processes," the company
said.
A spokesman for Merck's Thai subsidiary also attributed the lower Thai price
to a more favorable exchange rate.
Last month, the Health Ministry issued compulsory licenses for the heart
disease drug Plavix, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis and
Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra to treat HIV/AIDS after a similar move on
another AIDS drug last year.
The licenses, which Thai health officials said would save the country up to
800 million baht ($24 million) a year, drew praise from AIDS activists but
flak from Washington and the drug industry, which are urging the ministry to
rescind them.
Merck said it was the second time it had cut the price for a 600 mg
formulation of Efavirenz in less than a year.
Least developed countries or middle-income nations with adult HIV prevalence
rates of one percent or more will get a 14.5 percent reduction to $0.65 per
day, or $237.25 per patient per month.
The price will drop 5.8 percent to $1.80 per day, or $657 per patient per
year, for middle-income countries with an adult HIV rate of less than one
percent.