GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has agreed to allow a second manufacturer to produce generic versions of its anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines, the pharmaceutical company said on Wednesday.
”GSK has also agreed to entertain applications for a further two possible licences,” it said in a statement.
The agreement came after an HIV-positive woman, Hazel Tau, complained to the Competition Commission that GSK and another pharmaceutical company, Boehringer Ingelheim, contravened the provisions on limiting practices in the Competition Act by abusing their dominant position in the manufacturing of ARVs.
The Treatment Action Campaign and the Aids Healthcare Foundation, an American organisation, supported Tau in her complaints.
GSK said that in 2001 it had granted a voluntary licence to the generic drug manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare for the manufacturing and sale of three ARVs — Epivir (3TC), Retrovir (AZT) and Combivir — to the public sector in South Africa.
”In October 2003, GSK extended this licence to include both the public and private sectors and all countries in the sub-Saharan region.”
The second licence would be granted on terms substantially similar to those of the Aspen licence, the statement said.
The commission said it was still in discussions with Boehringer Ingelheim regarding a settlement agreement. — Sapa