Washington, DC — As part of what it calls an "accelerated program to fight HIV/Aids in Africa," the international pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb has decided not to fight the manufacture by other companies of a lower-cost version of its anti-HIV drug, Zerit (stavudine) for use in Africa.
It has also slashed the cost of Zerit and of another anti-HIV drug, Videx (didanosine), to well below cost; the combined price for the two drugs will be one dollar per day -- 15 cents for Zerit and 85 cents for Videx. In the United States, a one-day dose for these two drugs costs $18, the company says.
Aids activists and NGOs have welcomed the decision as a breakthrough in their fight for cheaper Aids medicines but remain cautious about declaring it a victory.
Zamokuhle Zwane, a spokesperson for the Treatment Action Campaign of South Africa, said in Johannesburg: "We welcome it, if it means people who don't have drugs can get them more easily; but we have not seen the whole document. How fast will this be implemented? Many people will die with each passing week."
Despite its price reduction and willingness to accept the inevitability of generic drugs to fight HIV/Aids in Africa, Bristol-Myers is reportedly going to continue with the joint court challenge in South Africa mounted by 39 global drug companies, seeking to have a law that loosens drug patent rights under certain circumstances declared illegal.
The law enables the government to compel patent holders to grant licenses to competitors in cases of national need. Bristol-Myers argues that the lawsuit is critical to protecting their rights over all their prescription drugs, not only Aids drugs.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The company's apparent willingness to continue to be a party to the court challenge puzzles Zwane. "It doesn't make sense to abandon patent rights for these drugs here and pursue the case of patent rights violations here too," he says. AllAfrica was unable to reach a spokesperson from the company for comment.
The patent rights fight should not prevent use of versions of Zerit in Africa, the company says. "This is not about profits and patents; it's about poverty and a devastating disease," said Bristol-Myers executive vice president, John L. McGoldrick. "We seek no profits on Aids drugs in Africa and we will not let our patents be an obstacle."
Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, President Thabo Mbeki told parliament in Cape Town that his government will not declare Aids a national emergency in order to ease access to generic drugs. The fact that twenty per cent of the adult population is HIV-positive is "persuasive in itself," Mbeki said. "Accordingly, we do not need to declare a national emergency to underscore the point."
If a national emergency is officially declared, the World Trade Organization permits a country to import life-saving generic drugs without the consent of the international drug companies that hold the patents.
Mbeki's stance does not mean, South African officials say, that the government is backing away from defending the patent law passed three years ago and now under challenge by the pharmaceutical industry.
