Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - October 26, 2002
Merck, Sharp & Dorme, a US-based pharmaceutical giant on Wednesday announced it had slashed the price of stockrin, a drug supplied to third world countries by 30%.
Stockrin, used as a key drug on the HIV/AIDS cocktail, forms the backbone for most treatment regimens, worldwide.
Previously, in a capsule form, the drug has now been formulated into tablets of 600mg, each. The drug, which has been selling in Uganda at sh82,000 per month, will now cost about US$0.95 cents (sh1,738) per tablet bringing the total cost per month to about sh54,000.
The company representative in Kampala, David Bagonza, told The New Vision the cost of producing the new tablet was now much lower.
"While the production costs have lowered, it is company policy not make profits on its supplies to third world countries," he said.
The newly formulated stockrin provides people living with HIV/AIDS with the option to take one tablet per day, instead of three 200mg capsules as administered in the current regimen.
Bagonza said he had submitted registration forms for the new tablets to the National Drug Authority (NDA) and that they would be available in Uganda by next month after the old stock has been used up.
The manufacturers said in a statement, that the prices were billed in dollars and that they would be available to the public without restrictions.
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