Merck announces 30% cut in AIDS drug cost for poorest countries

Keith Alcorn
Estimated reading time 1 minutes
This article is more than 22 years old.

Merck has announced a 30% cut in the price of efavirenz for least developed countries, reducing the annual cost to $350 a year. Efavirenz, which Merck markets as Stocrin outside the US and Europe, is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor currently recommended as one option for first-line treatment in resource-limited settings. This price cut means that Merck is now undercutting generic manufacturers; the cheapest generic version of efavirenz, manufactured by Aurobindo in India, costs approximately $500 a year.

Merck also announced that it will make the new 600mg capsule available at this price, replacing the three capsule dosage currently available.

Middle income countries such as Thailand will pay $767 a year ($2.10 a day) for efavirenz.

Glossary

generic

In relation to medicines, a drug manufactured and sold without a brand name, in situations where the original manufacturer’s patent has expired or is not enforced. Generic drugs contain the same active ingredients as branded drugs, and have comparable strength, safety, efficacy and quality.

middle income countries

The World Bank classifies countries according to their income: low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high. There are around 50 lower-middle income countries (mostly in Africa and Asia) and around 60 upper-middle income countries (in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean).

reverse transcriptase

A retroviral enzyme which converts genetic material from RNA into DNA, an essential step in the lifecycle of HIV. Several classes of anti-HIV drugs interfere with this stage of HIV’s life cycle: nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). 

nucleoside

A precursor to a building block of DNA or RNA. Nucleosides must be chemically changed into nucleotides before they can be used to make DNA or RNA. 

first-line therapy

The regimen used when starting treatment for the first time.

Note: efavirenz is marketed by Bristol Myers Squibb as Sustiva in the United States and larger European Union nations. Sustiva and Stocrin are the same formulation, and Sustiva will also be available as a 600mg capsule in Europe from next month.

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