Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - July 6, 2007
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
"We understand that the Brazilian government has a reason to accept the deal. But we cannot do that. It's not the option we are hoping for," he said.
Dr Vichai, also chairman of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation's (GPO) board, made his remark yesterday after Brazil Health Minister Jose Gomez Temporao accepted an offer from Abbott to cut the price of Kaletra by 30%.
The lower price for Kaletra, a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, could save about $10 million a year for Brazil's Aids treatment programme, the minister said, and he urged other drug companies to follow suit by cutting prices.
Yesterday's landmark agreement was reached a month after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva issued compulsory licensing for the Aids drug to enable his government to import a cheaper generic version from India.
Dirk van Eeden, director of Abbott's HIV communication & policy department, told the Bangkok Post in a phone interview that an agreement with the Brazilian government should set a precedent for Thailand to review the company's offer.
To date, Thailand and Abbott have been unable to strike a deal on the price of Aluvia, a heat-stable version of Kaletra.
The ministry has asked the company to cut the Aluvia price to about 5% higher than that of the generic version.
But Abbott has insisted on selling the drug at 3,488.20 baht per person per month, or about 34,000 baht (US$1,000) per person per year, which the ministry said is still too expensive.
Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla preferred the price quoted by India's generic drug maker, Matrix Laboratories, which sells a generic version of Aluvia at 2,027 baht per person per month, or 24,324 baht (US$695) per person per year.
In another development, the GPO is set to buy the first lot of two million tablets of the heart medicine chopidogrel, marketed as Plavix, from India for patients under the universal healthcare scheme.
He said the GPO has shortlisted four potential Indian drug manufacturers, but declined to name them.
The cost of the medicine ranges from between three and four baht per tablet and its price could increase to five to five-and-a-half baht per tablet including tax and transportation costs, he said.
"The patented version costs several times more than this," he said.
The original heart drug owned by Sanofi Aventis costs up to 90 baht per tablet.
In Thailand, it is estimated that five million tablets of the medicine are needed for patients suffering from heart disease each year.
The first batch of the drug is expected to arrive in Thailand around October, he said.
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