The Hindu Business Line : Pharma cos urged to cut prices for Govt AIDS programme

IF you can bring down the price of anti-AIDS drugs to $140 per year for the former US President, Mr Bill Clinton, what can you offer the Indian Prime Minister?" That is the question the Union Health Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, is said to have put to domestic drug majors at a meeting to discuss the issue.

More than 10 days and three working group meetings later, pharma companies had apparently been asked by the Government to get back to the drawing board and come up with a better price for the cocktail of anti-AIDS drugs or anti-retrovirals (ARV) to be used in the national programme.

And finally, an announcement on ARV prices is expected from Ms Swaraj on Sunday, the eve of World AIDS Day (December 1).

Only recently, the Clinton Foundation had clinched a deal with a clutch of Indian drug companies, including Ranbaxy, Cipla, Matrix, Hetero and Aurobindo. However, this deal was for the African markets. The Health Ministry has been working overtime to strike a similar, if not better, price with these companies for the Government's AIDS control programme.

The fact that World AIDS Day, the elections and the winter session of Parliament are all next week is certainly not lost on the stakeholders, according to industry watchers.

Ms Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, Project Director, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), told Business Line that the meetings of the working group were on schedule.

"The initial response from the pharma industry to the Minister's initiative was sustained through all the meetings."

Meanwhile, according to Ministry sources, "The companies had come up with certain prices, but the Ministry wanted something more, following which some companies asked for time to get a clarification from their suppliers."

Industry representatives said the prices offered by the domestic drug companies were around Rs 18 per day per patient. This was the price agreed upon by the drug companies with the Clinton Foundation as well and works out to about $140 per year. "Currently, domestic drug companies sell at a cost of about 80-85 cents per day, translating to about Rs 40 per day or about Rs 1,200 per month. Bringing it down to Rs 18 is almost halving the price," an industry representative said.

The sources said: "South Africa, the region worst affected by the illness, is targeting treatment of about 16,000 persons in the first phase.

Compared to this, the Indian initiative to treat about one lakh persons to begin with is ambitious. But the Government is flexible and willing to carry the industry's requests to the Union Finance Ministry."

They added: "The group has asked for a waiver on local taxes and excise duties and this would have a significant bearing on the total price of the drug. It varies for the different combination therapies and hence, it would be incorrect to give a number."

Whatever the number, the Sunday announcement would be closely watched by the people at the core of NACO's programmes, i.e., the people living with HIV/AIDS in the country.

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