Drug majors cut AIDS drug prices further

Merck & Co, GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb have announced thatthey intend to reduce further the prices of their HIV/AIDS treatments to African countries.

First to announce further discounts was Merck, which said on March 6 that it would reduce its prices to about 40%-50% below the levels already agreed in negotiations with the World Health Organization, the World Bank and United Nations groups on improving developing countries' access to medications last year (Marketletter May 22, 2000).

The company said it will abandon country-by-country negotiations for the drugs, as these have led to little progress, and will instead make its products available at the heavily-discounted prices to any government, charitable organization or employer in developing countries. It plans to compete with generics in countries where Merck products do not have patents, the company said, and, in return, it requires only guarantees that the drugs will not be re-exported to other nations.