”Insufficient”, is how the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) views the announcement by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline that it will cut the prices of its HIV/Aids drugs by up to 47% for countries eligible for reduced prices.
The reduction will drop the price of Combivir, an HIV/Aids treatment recommended by the World Health Organisation, to 90 cents a day in 63 developing countries, including South Africa.
The pharmaceutical company announced it would also reduce the price of Epivir, commonly known at 3TC and Retrovir, also known as AZT, by 45% and 38% respectively.
TAC spokesperson Nathan Geffen said the price reduction was not being made available to pharmacies which was where most patients obtained their medication.
”Only about a 1 000 people get their medication through the public health system. Most people get their medication in the private sector.”
Geffen said the only way of keeping prices substantially low was through generic competition.
He said GlaxoSmithKline also needed to clarify if it was going to lower the price of Lamibudine. Combivir is made up of AZT and Lamibudine.
”Often doctors want to prescribe the Lamibudine without the AZT. Lamibudine is excessively priced. Are they going to lower its price?”
Geffen said Glaxo had not lowered the prices because ”they were nice people” but because of pressure brought on them by activists around the world.
”This pressure cannot be maintained forever. We need to introduce generic competition,” he said.
He said while Glaxo’s action was insufficient, the positive side was that the drugs were being offered to employers who were treating their workers who were not part of medical aid plans.
It was reported earlier that Glaxo may have an eye on the new money for Aids announced by George Bush in his state of the union address. When he promised $15-billion for Aids, of which $10-billion was new money, he referred to Aids treatments costing less than $300 a year.
At the time only the generic companies sold their drugs at such low prices.
Jean-Pierre Garnier, Glaxo’s chief executive, emphasised yesterday that this was not its first price cut.
”These price cuts demonstrate our commitment to making vital medicines more affordable through sustainable preferential pricing,” he said.
”In June 2001, when we expanded our access programme, we promised to continue to find ways to reduce costs and pass those savings on to patients. We did that in September 2002, and today we are again delivering on our promise.”
Glaxo has said it has trebled sales from two million people treated to six million in the 63 poorest countries between 2001 and 2002. Sales had not increased much since the last price cut, but manufacturing processes had improved. – Guardian Unlimited Â