Merck Responds to Aids Activists' Pleas; Reduces Price of Stocrin by 40% in Mexico, Notes AHF
AIDS Healthcare Foundation Targeted Drug Company with Print Ad
Campaign in Mexico Touting Merck's 'AIDS Drug Prices to Die For'
Activists Vow to Continue Fight for Affordable Lifesaving AIDS
Drugs; Question Why Despite Merck's Price Cut Today, Stocrin Costs
Only 50 Cents per Day in Brazil While Mexico Will Pay $1.51 per Day
MEXICO CITY--(Business Wire)--
As more than 20,000 people from around the world gather this
weekend for the start of the XVII International AIDS Conference in
Mexico City, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) the US-based NGO which
provides HIV/AIDS medical care and/or services to more than 79,000
individuals in 20 countries worldwide--including at four free
treatment clinics in Mexico--commended Merck & Company (known as
Merck, Sharp & Dohme in Mexico) over price cuts on two of its key AIDS
drugs in Mexico which were announced yesterday before Sunday's opening
of the AIDS conference. Merck cut its price of Stocrin (efavirenz,
branded as Sustiva in the US) in Mexico by 40% from 777 pesos per
patient monthly to 468 pesos (roughly from $77.50 USD to $46 USD), and
on Isentress (raltegravir) by 30% from 9.050 pesos to 6.851 pesos per
patient monthly ($903 USD to $683 USD)
"The efforts of some very passionate AIDS activists are paying off
in Mexico with Merck's announcement of significant price cuts on two
of its AIDS drugs, Stocrin and Isentress," said Michael Weinstein,
AIDS Healthcare Foundation President. "Though there is still much to
be done in the fight for affordable lifesaving AIDS drugs in Mexico
and throughout the world--including further advocacy focusing on
Merck--we commend Merck today for instituting these double digit price
reductions in response to activists' pleas for lower prices as a means
to increase access to antiretroviral treatment throughout Mexico. We
want to ensure that people in need in Mexico are not arbitrarily
priced out of such lifesaving AIDS treatments, and we will continue to
vigorously advocate both government and industry for universal access
to antiretroviral treatment."
"Merck will still charge $1.51 USD per patient per day for Stocrin
in Mexico while the drug is available in Brazil--a country with a
similar per capita income--for roughly 50 cents per day. We have
challenged Merck before for charging four times as much as they do in
other Latin American and middle-income countries for drugs like
Stocrin. Steep pricing effectively makes these drugs all but out of
reach for nearly all those living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico," said Dra.
Patricia Campos, Latin America Bureau Chief for the AIDS Healthcare
Foundation (AHF) and a member of the 'Coalicion de Activistas por el
Accesso Universal en VIH/SIDA.' "Over the past year, AHF and a growing
coalition of AIDS activists here in Mexico have undertaken efforts to
make policy makers and the public-at-large aware of the imbalance in
Merck's policies regarding the pricing of its AIDS drugs as compared
to how Merck prices the same drugs in what are considered
least-developed countries. We also need to continue to push Merck on
the registration and pricing of the three-in-one, once-a-day
combination therapy, Atripla, to make certain that people in need in
Mexico and elsewhere have access to this lifesaving regimen."
Background on Advocacy Focusing on Merck and Stocrin
In June, 2007, AHF launched a print ad campaign targeting Merck's
AIDS drug pricing in policies in Mexico regarding Stocrin in a
campaign headlined, "AIDS Drug Prices to Die For.' Color print ads ran
in the prominent Mexican newspaper La Jornada. In addition, AHF hosted
a community forum on AIDS drug pricing that June in Mexico City for
policy makers, AIDS advocates, government officials and AIDS service
organizations to educate and inform the public and key decision-makers
about the widely-varying--and seemingly-arbitrary--pricing policies in
Mexico of many major pharmaceutical companies.
During the past two weeks, activists from the 'Coalicion de
Activistas por el Accesso Universal en VIH/SIDA' also staged a protest
in front of Merck, Sharp and Dohme's offices in Mexico City over the
company's drug pricing and policies. The activists also protested the
fact that Merck had greeted members of the Coalition for a previously
arranged meeting set for the prior week by calling the police on them,
a seemingly heartless or knee jerk corporate tactic which forced the
Coalition's abrupt cancellation of that meeting.
In Latin America, AIDS Healthcare Foundation currently provides
free HIV/AIDS care to people in need through its clinics in Mexico
(Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas; and Pachuca,
Hidalgo) and in Guatemala (Quetzaltenango).
About AHF
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US' largest HIV/AIDS
organization. AHF currently provides treatment, care and support
services to more than 79,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide in
the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. Additional
information is available at www.aidshealth.org
MEXICO
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Dra. Patricia Campos Lopez
Chief Latin American Bureau
Guadalajara, MEXICO
MX direct 01152 33 35 85 31 17
U.S. mobile 1213-361-2524
MX mobile 01152 33 34 82 92 07
patricia.campos@aidshealth.org
or
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Ged Kenslea
Communications Director
6255, West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA, USA
+1 323-860-5225 (work)
+1 323-791-5526 (cell)
gedk@aidshealth.org
or
Jaime Montejo
Coordinador de Noti-calle
Corregidora 115 - 204
Col. Centro, Venustiano Carranza
C.P. 15100, Distrito Federal
+52 (55) 55.42.78.35
+52 (55) 55.42.40.96
04455.29.92.93.11
04455.22.12.04.22
noti.calle@gmail.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
