JVnet Forum posting** - April 16, 2004
Ngoc and Trang

As a matter of fact, there are different ARV prices. For the same drugs, some prices are very high, others may be a lot lower, but this does not necessarily mean that people/organizations/countries can choose which prices to pay.

Let's take for example one of the common first-line regimens, AZT (zidovudine) + 3TC (lamivudine) + NVP (nevirapine).

GlaxoSmithKline is offering to Viet Nam an AZT+3TC combined pill for a discounted price of 0.85 USD per pill, which works out to 620.5 USD per person per year. After repeated negotiations, Boehringer has sold NVP to the ESTHER project treating patients in Viet Nam for 650,000 VND (or 495 USD) per person per year. These added together, the price of drugs for this first-line regimen would be 1,115.5 USD per person per year.

This same combination of drugs is available from Cipla, an Indian pharmaceutical company, for only 365 USD per person per year.

Another common first-line regimen, d4T (stavudine) + 3TC (lamivudine) + NVP (nevirapine) is available from Indian pharmaceutical companies for 255-292 USD per person per year, and from a Thai company (GPO) for 325-358 USD per person per year.

Why is there such a huge difference? GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer are originator companies, i.e. they own the inventions that are the basis for the production and use of these drugs. Their drugs are called branded drugs. The Indian and Thai companies produce the same drugs, but since these are not based on inventions owned by them, rather, are copies of the branded drugs, they are called generic drugs.

Although generic drugs and branded drugs are essentially the same chemicals, generic drugs are cheaper than branded drugs. It is intuitive to almost everyone that this is because generic companies do not incur research and development costs, which originator companies do. Another reason, which is less obvious, is that originator companies hold patents for these drugs in different countries, which give them the right to monopoly for a period of time. If a branded drug is under patent protection in a country, it is illegal for people/organizations in that country to buy/sell/produce the generic version of the drug without permission of the patent holder. It is this monopoly that makes it possible for originator companies to keep charging high prices.

Given the low prices reported, the question is, are these real possibilities for Viet Nam?

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** JVnet, an email forum in Vietnam, was founded by Dr. Jamie Uhrig, currently moderated by Institute for Social Development Studies.

To post message on JVnet: send to jvnet@netnam.vn

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