O blog do GAT

NGO Response to Abbott’s announced $1000 price for Aluvia
in Low- and Lower-Middle Income Countries
April 10, 2007

Health GAP, Student Global AIDS Campaign, American Medical Student
Association, and Essential Action applaud that Thailand’s compulsory
license, generic competition, WHO intervention, and activist pressure have
forced Abbott to offer a further 55% reduction in its tiered price for low-
and lower-middle income countries.  However, as clarified further below,
the price discounts still do not go deep enough or wide enough, and Abbott
has still withdraw Aluvia and six other medicines from the Thai
registration process in retaliation for Thailand’s lawful exercise of its
right to issue compulsory licenses for priority medicines for government,
non-commercial use.

    Abbott’s new price announcement confirms the importance of generic
    competition and the necessity of using compulsory licenses to curb
    abuses of monopoly power by pharmaceutical companies. Abbott’s
    price-discount announcement is mostly due to: (1) Cipla’s recent
    announcement (April 1, 2007) to undercut Abbott’s price and offer
    Aluvia at $1560/pppy, (2) Thailand’s decision to issue a compulsory
    license in response to the unaffordable price charged by Abbott in
    Thailand other low- and lower-middle-income countries of $2200/pppy,
    and (3) increased civil society and political pressure exerted upon
    the company in the last four weeks following its decision to
    de-register seven medicines from the Thai market.
    Abbott has not yet agreed to reverse its illegal and unethical
    withdrawal of seven registration applications from the Thai drug
    regulatory process, including the application for Aluvia, the
    heat-stable form of Kaletra that is most appropriate for use in a
    tropical country like Thailand.  Abbott may have violated Thailand’s
    competition law by withdrawing these products; it has certainly
    violated patients’ human right of access to essential life-saving
    medicines.
    Although this price is lower than what has been currently offered by
    generic manufacturers, it is still twice the access price of the
    medicine(s) in least-developed and African countries ($500/pppy), and
    will exert a heavy financial burden upon low-income and lower-middle
    income countries seeking to achieve universal access and treatment.
    Abbott should provide Kaletra/Aluvia at one, no-profit price to all
    developing countries.
    Although Abbott’s price is temporarily lower than the price offered
    by generic manufacturers, it is highly likely that generic prices
    will drop below $1000/pppy as an increasing number of patients
    require 2nd line anti-retrovirals, as generic producers reach
    economies-of-scale, and as generic versions of Aluvia are WHO
    pre-qualified and are thus purchasable with Global Fund money.
    Abbott’s price discount to Thailand, like its prior discount to
    Brazil, is primarily designed to reduce market demand that might
    incentivize efficient generic production.
    Abbott must not be permitted to blackmail Thailand into withdrawing
    any compulsory licenses in exchange for a promise to renew its
    registration application for Aluvia.  Thailand’s decision to issue
    compulsory licenses was fully consistent with World Trade
    Organization intellectual property rules and obligations and with
    Thai law.  Likewise, the Ministry of Health should not be forced to
    withdraw its compulsory licenses for efavirenz or Plavix.
    Even if Abbott is offering a lower price for Kaletra/Aluvia, it does
    not necessarily mean that Thailand should withdraw, or not execute,
    its government use license.  There are strong reasons that Thailand
    may wish to keep its compulsory license to ensure alternative sources
    of supply, to develop and support domestic and/or regional
    pharmaceutical capacity, to incentivize generic competition, and to
    subsequently procure lower-priced generic versions that are
    WHO-prequalified and registered in Thailand.
    Thailand should only purchase Kaletra/Aluvia from Abbott to ensure
    no-stock outs and reliable access across the country, and should not
    enter into any long-term, binding contract that would make Abbott the
    country’s sole supplier for multiple years and preclude future
    use/access of generic versions.  A prior decision by the Brazilian
    government to enter into a long-term contract with Abbott for
    Kaletra/Aluvia has exerted a severe financial burden upon the
    National AIDS treatment program, and the Brazilian government now
    pays a price of $1596/pppy that is 60% higher than Abbott’s new $1000
    price.
    The World Health Organization should be staunchly defending and
    supporting Thailand’s decision to issue a compulsory license, and
    should be providing technical support and assistance to the Thai and
    other governments to enforce and implement compulsory licenses.
    Any price negotiations conducted by the WHO should be done alongside
    and through national governments, and not done secretly with
    pharmaceutical companies.  Any price negotiations or transactions
    with the pharmaceutical industry should be open, transparent and
    inclusive to avoid any appearance of impropriety or undue influence
    of the pharmaceutical industry upon the UN body.

Etiquetas: Abbott

# posted by gatoman : 18:25