Australia plans cheap HIV/AIDS drugs for Asia

The Australian government has announced that it is currently innegotiations with a number of multinational drug manufacturers operating in the country in order to seek supplies of HIV/AIDS drug treatments at heavily-discounted prices for use in countries in the Asia-Pacific region, according to local newspapers and Reuters reports.

According to a spokesman for Australian Health Minister, Michael Wooldridge, the government hopes, by year-end, to have finalized an agreement with the firms which could reduce the cost of annual HIV/AIDS treatment in the Asia-Pacific region from about A$10,000 ($5,172) per patient at present to around A$500. The companies involved in the talks are reported to include Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co. The spokesman said Dr Wooldridge hoped to firm up the agreements with the firms on his return from the United Nations special HIV/AIDS session in New York, USA (Marketletter July 2 and see story alongside).

Govt "seeks price cuts, not offering tax breaks or subsidies"