Healthy Skepticism Library item: 10995

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Publication type: news

Thai activists attack drug ban
Bangkok Post 2007 Jul 25
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=120413

Full text:

Activists supporting HIV-positive people in Thailand demanded Tuesday at an international Aids conference in Australia that Abbott Laboratories stop blocking the distribution of critical Aids drugs.

Abbott and the Thai government have been embroiled in a long-standing battle over the costs of antiretroviral treatment, which enable those with HIV/Aids to live longer and more effective lives.

Thai activists claimed Abbott was blocking the distribution of Aluvia, a second-line drug crucial for those already developing resistance to first-generation treatment.

Aluvia is the only drug of its kind in the developing world, and is both heat resistant and food-independent. It can be stored without refrigeration and doesn’t need to be taken with food, an important feature in poverty-stricken countries.

“For Thai people with resistant HIV, access to Aluvia is not a luxury. It is vital,” said Kannikar Kijtiwatchakul of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/Aids and also a campaigner for medical humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres.

At the end of Tuesday’s morning plenary attended by thousands of people, Kannikar appealed to scientists, researchers and politicians at the 4th International Aids Society Conference on Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention to sign a petition and support the cause of positive Thai people.

Thailand has approximately 500,000 people living with HIV/Aids, of whom 80,000 are on antiretroviral therapy. Of these, 8,000 have developed resistance to the toxic drugs and need to be put on second-line therapy, Kannikar said.

The cost of these drugs is becoming a major issue in the capacity of Aids-affected countries to deliver widespread and equitable treatment and care.

After several failed negotiations with Abbott since 2005, Thailand issued a compulsory license in January to overcome a patent barrier on second-line drug Lopinavir/Ritonavir. This enabled the country to either legally import it or produce it locally.

This was in keeping with World Bank recommendations that Thailand procure cheaper, generic versions of Lopinavir, activists said.

“In February, Abbott announced that unless the Thai government grants it an absolute monopoly on sales of Lopinavir, without any generic competition, then it would effect a blockade of Aluvia against all Thai Aids patients,” Kannikar said.

Earlier, on Sunday, Abbott CEO Jean-Yves Pavee met with HIV activists from Thailand and HIV-positive group, Act-Up Paris. While it dropped a lawsuit against Act-Up for an attack on the Abbott website, the blockade against Aluvia continues.

“I’m living with HIV, and a few years ago an HIV drug by Abbott saved my life,” Act-Up president Hugues Fischer said after the meeting. “From my point of view, for Abbott to be deliberately preventing the Thais from procuring a lifesaving HIV medicine is tantamount to murder.”

According to an MSF report released Monday, entitled “Untangling the Web of Price Reductions,” there have been dramatic price reductions for second-line drugs over the past year – largely a result of the compulsory license issued by Thailand.

The costs plummeted from $2,800 to $695 per year.

“But this is still far too expensive for the majority of people in Thailand, where the average annual salary is $1,600 per year,” Kannikar said earlier.

Thailand is often upheld as a model of HIV treatment across the developing world, with its early campaigns for universal access to treatment, while simultaneously rolling out massive education and prevention programmes.

The Sydney Aids conference, which opened Sunday, features the latest developments in biomedical prevention, treatment and clinical practice.