Merck cutting AIDS drug price in poor countries
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Merck & Co. Inc. is cutting the price charged for its brand-name version of efavirenz (sold as Sustiva in the U.S. and Stocrin in Europe) for HIV infection by 20 percent in poor countries, bringing it within “pennies” of the cost of generics, the U.S. drug maker said on Tuesday.
The lower price reflects new efficiencies and cost savings resulting from improved manufacturing processes at a new factory for making the drug in Australia, the company said.
Merck has come under pressure to cut the cost of the life-saving drug following moves earlier this year by the Clinton Foundation to help producers in India and South Africa make cheap generic versions of the medicine.
Merck’s new price for the 600 milligram formulation is 76 U.S. cents per day, or $277.40 per patient a year, down from 95 cents, in the least developed countries of the world and those hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The scheme backed by former President Bill Clinton offers efavirenz, the generic version, for $240 a year.
But this lower price is limited to large orders and does not include shipping and insurance, which Merck estimates adds around 10 percent to the final cost.
“At the end of the day, the prices we’re making available are within pennies of those offered by the generic producers,” said Merck spokesman Jeffrey Sturchio.
Efavirenz is often used in patients who have become resistant to first-line drugs or cannot tolerate the side effects. Campaigners have been pushing hard to bring down the cost of such second-line therapies, after a successful fight in the past five years to slash the price of cheaper initial medications.
Like other HIV/AIDS drugs, efavirenz is given in combination with other antiretrovirals to minimise the risk of the virus developing resistance to treatment.
Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said the Merck move was “very welcome” and he hoped it would be part of a continuing trend to bring down prices further.
Cutting costs is crucial if the global community is to achieve its goal of getting universal access to HIV treatment and care for all who need it by 2010.
Merck Chief Executive Richard Clark said the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company hoped to be able to reduce the price of the drug again as efficiencies continued to improve.
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