Bangkok--2 May--MSF Belgium in Thailand
a group of Thai doctors and patient representatives are repeating demands to the US pharmaceutical company Abbott to make a key AIDS drug available for Thai patients.
Last month 25 Thai physicians and AIDS activists wrote to the CEO of Abbott in the USA to demand that they register the new version of Kaletra in Thailand and sell it at a fair price.
New-Kaletra has several advantages over the older drug: patients need to take fewer pills and the drug does not need to be refrigerated. Although in many parts of Europe and the US this newer version has systematically replaced the older version, the company appears set to use Thailand as a dumping ground for the older version of this drug.
Abbott recently announced a discounted price (20,000 baht per patient per year) for the new version for least-developed countries (mostly in Africa) but has done nothing for Thailand. The old version of the drug is currently being sold at a price that few can afford — 108,000 baht per patient per year. No announcement at all has been made at all regarding the price of the new version in Thailand.
Around 80,000 people with HIV/AIDS currently benefit from the Thai government’s HIV/AIDS treatment programme. An increasing number of these will need to switch to newer medicines like Kaletra as resistance develops to the older medicines.
Thai physicians and AIDS activists have written to the CEO of Abbott in the USA, to demand that they register the new tablet version of LPV/r in Thailand, quote a fair price for this drug, and give priority to developing a tablet strength suitable for children. Signatories to the letter include Professor Praphan Phanuphak, Director of the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre; Dr Kulkanya Chokephaibulkit of the Department of Paediatrics in Siriraj Hospital; Professor Ploenchan Chetchotisakd of Khon Kaen University; Senator Jon Ungphakorn; and Mr Kamon Uppakaew, Chairman of the Thai Network for People With HIV/AIDS and twenty others.
About MSF Belgium in Thailand
MSF is an international medical humanitarian organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger. Since 1998, MSF Belgium in Thailand has been working with Thai colleagues and partner organizations to reduce high drug prices to improve access to treatment for patients.
Contacts
English: Dr David Wilson, Medical Coordinator
Thai: Khun Kannikar Kijtiwatchakul (Access to Medicines Communications Officer)
Medecins Sans Frontieres Belgium in Thailand
522 Mooban Nakorn Thai 14, Ladphrao Road, Soi 101/1, Bangkapi, Bangkok 10240
Phone: 02 370 3087
Fax: 02 731 1432
e-mail: [email protected]