  
refuses to cut HIV drug prices more than 90%
Last Updated: 2001-04-06 12:30:55 EDT (Reuters Health)
By Richard Woodman
LONDON (Reuters Health) - GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said Friday it would not cut HIV drug prices in developing countries by more than the 90% it has already offered, despite pleas from South Africa that Western drugs are still too costly.
South Africa's Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang expressed concern over the price of antiretroviral drugs ahead of the resumption of a landmark court case on April 18, when drug firms will attempt to stop Pretoria from importing generic medicines.
"We have no objection in principle to the use of antiretrovirals. But cost remains an enormous barrier that cannot be wished away," the Minister said in a statement earlier today.
Companies such as GSK have offered Pretoria a succession of price discounts on antiretrovirals to help treat the estimated 1 in 10 South Africans who are infected with HIV. GSK has offered its combination AZT/3TC antiretroviral drug Combivir to Pretoria at 39 pounds sterling ($56) for a month's treatment, a major discount to the average world price.
Asked if this was its final offer, a company spokesman told Reuters Health that "a 90% reduction is a significant offer... a huge reduction. We are not going to go further because we would get into a ridiculous situation."
Pretoria argues that the firms have failed to offer concrete price discounts on sustainable supplies of medicines, saying the drugs are only being offered conditionally for a certain period of time, up to 5 years. It also says that prices mentioned in meetings between the parties would still break its health budget.
Relations between Pretoria and the drug industry have hit rock bottom, culminating in the court case where 39 leading firms will seek to defend their patent rights.
An affidavit posted by the drug firms ahead of the court hearing in Pretoria contains correspondence over more than 3 years between the drug firms and the Health Ministry in an attempt to reach agreement on the pricing of drugs.
The 39 drug firms argue that planned South African legislation will infringe their patent rights by allowing the Health Ministry to override patents by importing or manufacturing cheaper generic medicines.
Pretoria insists its Medicines Act is fundamental to its constitutional duty to provide health care to all its people.
-Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700
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