Prices for anti-HIV drugs look set to fall following two separate moves this weekend aimed at cutting the price of some of the most frequently prescribed drugs. Meanwhile, Princess Anne has attacked the policies of drug companies towards providing medication in developing countries as "simplistic philanthropy."
Glaxo Smith Kline has announced that it has granted a voluntary license to allow Aspen Pharmacare, a South African generic drug manufacturer, to make and market its antiretrovirals AZT, 3TC and Combivir (AZT and 3TC in one tablet).
Under the terms of the deal Aspen will be allowed to make the anti-HIV drugs for the South African public healthcare system and certain charities and other non-profit organisations. In addition Glaxo has waived any right to royalty payments, requiring instead Aspen to pay 30 percent of net sales to South African HIV prevention organisations.
It is not yet known exactly how much the generic versions of the drugs will cost, although Steven Saad, chief executive of Aspen said that they could make a generic version of Combivir at a price of $1 to $1.50 a day, substantially lower than the $17 a daily dose costs in the USA.
Last year Glaxo cut the cost of Combivir to $2 a day for the South African government which remained unable or unwilling to buy the drug. Glaxo's agreement with Aspen will not substantially impact on the pharmaceutical giant's income from South African drug sales, as Glaxo's rights to supply the small but lucrative private sector, including private health insurance and company health schemes, remains intact, and the South African government persists in its refusal to fund antiretroviral therapy. The major provider of antiretroviral therapy to low and middle income people in South Africa remains company health schemes, and this price cut will not help major employers in South Africa to provide treatment for their workforces.
In an unrelated move, Cipla-Medro, part of the Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla, has submitted a complaint to the South African Competition Commission claiming that Glaxo and rival pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim the manufacturers of nevirapine, have abused their patents.
Cipla's complaint says that the drugs companies have abused their position as "dominant firms" to keep the price of anti-HIV drugs high and as a consequence that the vast majority of "HIV infected persons are unable to afford any therapy at all...the price structuring of these products renders it even beyond the State's means to provide therapy through the public health system."
It seems probable that Aspen will also be included in Cipla's action. Aspen is accused by Cipla of entering into an exclusive licensing agreement with Glaxo and Boehringer which excludes other companies from manufacturing and marketing the drugs in competition.
Certain analysts are hopeful that Cipla's action will force the price of anti-HIV drugs even lower.
Drug company woes were further added to when Princess Anne used her address to the conference of Britain’s Royal Pharmaceutical Society, of which she is an honorary fellow, to attack the record of drugs companies in the developing world. The princess said that drug companies should focus their efforts on effectively providing long-term price cuts rather than "publicity stunts" and said: "Fair pricing based on the ability to pay would be an important step forward...if quick results are what companies want they run the risk of being accused of simplistic philanthropy rather than rising to the greater challenge of social responsibility."
Princess Anne, who is president of Save the Children Fund, also said that cheap medicines were urgently needed to treat the 150 babies born each day in South Africa with HIV, adding that the antiretroviral drugs which have prolonged the lives of people with HIV in the industrialised world were but a "cruel mirage" for people in South Africa.