The Department of Health awarded a R3,615-billion tender to six suppliers over a period of two years to supply antiretrovirals (ARVs), the department said on Thursday.
Spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the tender was awarded to support the implementation of the comprehensive response to HIV/Aids in South Africa.
”The prices were lower than in the last tender. The percentages decrease ranged from 20% to 71%. Only Efavirenz (one of the ARVs) has a sole supplier with an increase of 24%,” he said.
The reduced prices were due to higher volumes, the entry of generic medicines on to the market and a more competitive climate.
The six suppliers were GlaxoSmithKline with 6,9%, Aspen Pharmacare with 56,8%, Adcock Ingram with 20,9%, MSD with 9,1%, Medpro with 1,9% and Sonke with 4,5%.
”The awarding of this tender once again demonstrates the continued commitment to expanding access to HIV and Aids related treatment,” said Mngadi.
”We have to ensure that there is adequate and uninterrupted supply of the necessary medicine to the accredited treatment centres across the country.”
According to the department, the South African government’s ARV tender is the largest in the world.
”The accumulative number of patients initiated on ARVs was more than 478 000 by end of April 2008 which constitutes the highest number of people initiated on ARV treatment in any other country,” he said.
Aspen, the supplier that won most of the tender, said the results reflected positively on competitiveness, breadth of product offering and on the effectiveness of service delivery.
Aspen chief executive Stephen Saad said the tender was effective for a period of two years, commencing retrospectively from June 1 2008.
In addition to maintaining the supply contract for existing tender items, Aspen had also secured volumes for two new products, Aspen Efavirenz and Tenofivir.
Aspen had been able to respond to this growth in demand, it said.
Products were manufactured at the company’s facility in Port Elizabeth. – Sapa