Abbott 'offering cheaper Aids drug in Thailand'

The Straits Times, April 24, 2007


NEW YORK - ABBOTT Laboratories is offering to sell a newer form of its Aids drug Kaletra in Thailand at a discounted rate, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

The company had earlier refused to offer Aluvia, the newer form of Kaletra, in Thailand and said it would stop launching new drugs there to protest against the Thai government's decision in January to override international drug patents.

Abbott had now offered to resubmit Aluvia at a new price, which is lower than any generic, provided Bangkok does not issue a compulsory licence, the Journal quoted the company's chief executive Miles White as saying.

The move did not affect Abbott's decision to withhold six other drugs from Thailand, the paper said on its website.

Aids activists had widely criticised the blocking of Aluvia, because it is a heat-stable form of Kaletra, eliminating the need for costly cold storage in resource-poor countries.

Thailand earlier jolted the powerful pharmaceutical industry when it allowed generic versions of two anti-Aids drugs - Efavirenz and Kaletra - and popular heart disease medicine Plavix.

Under World Trade Organisation rules, countries can order compulsory licences that suspend patents and clear the way for generic drugs to protect public health in an emergency.

Few countries have actually used this provision, but Thailand embarked on the controversial move, saying that the prices of patented drugs were too high.

HIV/Aids is Thailand's top cause of death, followed by heart disease. Some 500,000 Thais are infected with HIV, but fewer than 10 per cent of them can afford to buy Kaletra, Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla has said.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE