Abbott backs off

Abbott Laboratories, one of the three pharmaceutical giants whose drugs face compulsory licensing in Thailand, has backed off from its threats, saying it wants to continue selling its HIV/Aids drugs here. Previously, the firm planned to withhold sale of a heat-stable form of Aluvia, its HIV/Aids drug, as punishment for Thailand's compulsory licensing policy.

Representatives of Abbott made the company's stance known yesterday while meeting with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) secretary-general Siriwat Tiptaradol. The FDA also met with representatives from Sanofi-Aventis yesterday.

Abbott's new offer was made on condition that Thailand would not impose compulsory licensing on Aluvia and that the price of the drug, at 3,488.20 baht per person per month, or about 34,000 baht (US$1,000) per person per year, would not come down any further.

Dr Siriwat said the FDA would forward Abbott's offer to Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla. Abbott's Aluvia price will be compared with the prices quoted by India's generic drug maker, Matrix Laboratories, which produces a generic version of Aluvia at 24,324 baht (US$695) per person per year (or 2,027 baht per person per month).

Matrix made the offer to Thailand and 66 other countries which have agreed to purchase the generic drug, together with the US-based Clinton Foundation.

On the two-hour negotiations with Sanofi-Aventis which holds the patent for the heart disease drug Plavix, Dr Siriwat said the drug giant proposed a one-year project to give patients greater access to the medicine. During the one-year period, the firm would make available 3.4 million tablets of Plavix to 34,000 patients.

The scheme would automatically reduce Plavix's price from 90 baht to about 27 baht per tablet. The FDA will forward Sanofi-Aventis' offer to the health minister, said Dr Siriwat. He added that his committee will invite the pharmaceutical firms to discuss prices again on June 1.

Meanwhile, Vichai Chokewiwat, chairman of the Public Health Ministry's panel on compulsory licensing, said that if the Public Health Ministry chose to buy drugs at prices higher than offered by other sources, it must be able to give the public a good reason to justify its decision.

''If we buy the drug [the generic version of Aluvia] from India at US$695 per person per year, next time, we might get the drug at a lower price, probably as low as US$500. If we buy it from the US firm at US$1,000 now, we might have to continue buying it at US$1,000 forever.''

http://bangkokpost.com/News/15May2007_news03.php