Thai health officials
said Tuesday that the government would consider an offer by
Abbott earlier Tuesday
announced that after consulting with the U.N.'s World Health Organization, it
had decided to offer its drug Kaletra, also known as lopinavir, and Aluvia, also known
as ritonavir, at a reduced price in the developing
world.
"The company today
offered to lower its price for its AIDS drug Kaletra
from 5,938 baht ($181) per patient per month to 3,488.20 baht ($107) per
patient per month which could end up being cheaper than its generic
version," Dr. Siriwat Tiptaradol,
secretary-general of Thailand's Food and Drug Administration, was quoted saying
in a news release from his agency.
The offer appeared to
be a breakthrough in ending a dispute between
Siriwat said that Illinois-based Abbott's stance is that it wants
to see a balance between the honoring of patents and public access to its
medicine.
Siriwat added that the FDA will forward the offer to the Public
Health Ministry for further deliberation.
The ministry in January
issued so-called "compulsory licenses" allowing the use of much
cheaper generic versions of Kaletra, as well as the
blood thinner Plavix, marketed by France's Sanofi-Aventis SA and U.S. drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb
Co.
According to World
Trade Organization agreements on intellectual property, a government may issue
a compulsory license in case of a national public health emergency. Such action
has been taken by several countries, most notably
A news release from
Abbott said the company will offer its AIDS drugs to NGOs and governments of
more than 40 low and low-middle income countries at a price of $1,000 per
patient per year.
"This price is
lower than any generic price available in the world today for this medicine and
is approximately 55 percent less than the average current price for these
countries," it said, adding that
"Abbott did not
say that they wanted us to revoke the compulsory license. There was no
condition. They were just here to offer the price reduction so that people can
have access to their medicines," Dr. Suchart Chongprasert, another Thai FDA official, told The
Associated Press.
"We want to thank
the company for their understanding of our position and the offer that they
made which will benefit Thai patients," he said.
Abbott's statement said
the company was acting "to further increase access and address the debate
around pricing of HIV medicines: by increasing affordability while preserving
the system that enables the discovery of new medicines."