Contact:
shasha@netactive.co.za

In a completely unprecedented move in any developing country, the drug giant Pfizer has listened to activist demands and agreed to provide Fluconazole (Diflucan(r)) to AIDS patients with cryptococcal meningitis free of charge.

Thailand's government has confronted drug companies for profiteering from HIV/AIDS drugs. The Thai government will provide DDI or Videx an anti-retroviral drug made by Bristol Meyers Squibb in powder form against the wishes of the company. DDI will now cost less than two thirds of its price. This action comes after months of campaigning by local HIV/AIDS treatment activists. The price reduction is welcome news for tens of thousands of people with HIV/AIDS, many in our country who are forced to buy Videx at an inflated price.

The Treatment Action campaign welcomes the victory by the Thai NGO Coalition including its people living with HIV/AIDS and Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders). Their work and sacrifice has paved the way for millions of people with HIV/AIDS.

However, Bristol Meyers Squibb is preventing the Thai government from buying the compounds for the drug from the cheapest supplier. If the Thai government could buy the drug compounds from the cheapest supplier, it would dramatically reduce the price and save many more lives.

Bristol Meyers Squibb faces three options

It can show courage and reduce its price significantly in Thailand and across the world. It will not lose any money because Yale University researched and developed the drug.

It can allow the Thai government the right to import the compound for DDI at the lowest cost.

Or, Bristol Meyers Squibb can face world opinion and activists as a drug profiteer who will let poor people die to maintain profits.

The Treatment Action Campaign calls on the United States government and the Yale University Board to support the action of the Thai government. We also call on the South African government and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association to act immediately to reduce the price of all medications to treat HIV/AIDS. We stand by the people in Thailand and everywhere who work for affordable treatment.

Issued by the Treatment Action Campaign
E-mail: shasha@netactive.co.za or zackie@pixie.co.za

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