MSF claims 500% price rise for ARVs

Medecins Sans Frontieres, the international health care campaigning organization and aid provider, has published a report which documents a massive cost increase, from $99 to $487, for first-line combination HIV/AIDS drugs that are recommended by the World Health Organization. The group also argues that compulsory licensing, and its threat, by Thailand and Brazil (Marketletters passim) have done more to reduce drug prices for second-line antiretroviral products than negotiated discounts with pharmaceutical firms or relying on differential pricing schemes.

The report, titled: Untangling the Web of Price Reductions, was released at the Fourth International AIDS Society Conference in Sydney, Austraila.