Novartis To Cut Malaria Drug Price
As drug makers come under fire in Africa for the high cost of their AIDS medicines, Swiss company Novartis AG said Thursday it has agreed to slash the price of a new drug against malaria, another disease haunting the continent.
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GENEVA (AP) - ``We'll offer it at a price at which we don't make any profit, but we won't make a loss either,' said Novartis spokesman Felix Raeber, who added that the cost in the West was in the order of $40 to $50 for a full treatment.
Malaria kills 1 million people annually, most of them African children under 5, the World Health Organization says. The disease has become resistant to other treatments in many countries.
The New York Times said Novartis had agreed with the WHO to sell the drug in Africa for about $2 for a full treatment.
Dr. David Heyman, head of the World Health Organization's communicable diseases program, told The Associated Press that the U.N. agency was in final negotiations with Novartis on an agreement to sell the product and that the price had yet to be determined.
But he said the company had committed to selling the drug at cost in the developing world.
``We're very, very pleased with this,' said Heyman. ``It's a very generous and very important offer' that will give health authorities a broader range of treatments to combat resistant strains of malaria.
The drug is available in some Western countries as Riamet and is soon to be launched as Co-Artem in developing countries.
Linda Stevens, the product manager at the company based in Basel, Switzerland, said Novartis has completed the registration in some developing countries and hoped to start selling the drug in them as soon as possible.
``It depends too on whether access is through the public or private sector,' she said. ``We're hoping for some decision there in May.'
The company couldn't give more specific guidelines on the price and said that discussions were still under way.
Daniel Berman, spokesman for Medecins sans Frontieres' campaign for access to essential medicine, said the offer was a good deal because in some countries resistance to other malaria treatments was up to 80 percent.
Because health authorities cannot afford to try more than one drug at a time, weaker patients - such as children - often die before an effective treatment can be found.
``If Novartis comes in at $2, that is really good news because it is a price that some countries could afford and for others it makes it practical for donors to step in,' he said.
In March WHO said it had joined forces with GlaxoSmithKline to develop LAPDAP, a combination therapy for malaria.
Under pressure to reduce their prices in poor countries, drugs companies have moved to cut the price of treatments for AIDS in recent months. Other companies also supply free or cut-price drugs for a number of other diseases that affect developing countries.
Raeber said Novartis is interested in expanding the types of drugs it offers in developing countries and would provide free leprosy drugs for the next few years.
``We're moving in this direction and will do some more research into possible projects,' Raeber said.
Malaria kills more people than any other communicable disease except tuberculosis. Victims suffer fever, shivering, pain in the joints, convulsions and comas.
The disease is spread by the Plasmodium parasite transmitted in the bite of the Anopheles mosquito.
Malaria kills 1 million people annually, most of them African children under 5, the World Health Organization says. The disease has become resistant to other treatments in many countries.
The New York Times said Novartis had agreed with the WHO to sell the drug in Africa for about $2 for a full treatment.
Dr. David Heyman, head of the World Health Organization's communicable diseases program, told The Associated Press that the U.N. agency was in final negotiations with Novartis on an agreement to sell the product and that the price had yet to be determined.
But he said the company had committed to selling the drug at cost in the developing world.
``We're very, very pleased with this,' said Heyman. ``It's a very generous and very important offer' that will give health authorities a broader range of treatments to combat resistant strains of malaria.
The drug is available in some Western countries as Riamet and is soon to be launched as Co-Artem in developing countries.
Linda Stevens, the product manager at the company based in Basel, Switzerland, said Novartis has completed the registration in some developing countries and hoped to start selling the drug in them as soon as possible.
``It depends too on whether access is through the public or private sector,' she said. ``We're hoping for some decision there in May.'
The company couldn't give more specific guidelines on the price and said that discussions were still under way.
Daniel Berman, spokesman for Medecins sans Frontieres' campaign for access to essential medicine, said the offer was a good deal because in some countries resistance to other malaria treatments was up to 80 percent.
Because health authorities cannot afford to try more than one drug at a time, weaker patients - such as children - often die before an effective treatment can be found.
``If Novartis comes in at $2, that is really good news because it is a price that some countries could afford and for others it makes it practical for donors to step in,' he said.
In March WHO said it had joined forces with GlaxoSmithKline to develop LAPDAP, a combination therapy for malaria.
Under pressure to reduce their prices in poor countries, drugs companies have moved to cut the price of treatments for AIDS in recent months. Other companies also supply free or cut-price drugs for a number of other diseases that affect developing countries.
Raeber said Novartis is interested in expanding the types of drugs it offers in developing countries and would provide free leprosy drugs for the next few years.
``We're moving in this direction and will do some more research into possible projects,' Raeber said.
Malaria kills more people than any other communicable disease except tuberculosis. Victims suffer fever, shivering, pain in the joints, convulsions and comas.
The disease is spread by the Plasmodium parasite transmitted in the bite of the Anopheles mosquito.
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