Response to MSF questions on Roche HIV pricing policy at 6th International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV infection, 18 November 2002
We acknowledge the potential issues detailed by MSF regarding our HIV/AIDS policies in resource-poor settings (the worlds Least Developed Countries (LDCs)/ Africa and middle-income countries). We are taking these very seriously, we are reviewing these in depth, will respond in full as a matter of urgency and request that MSF will make our full response available via their website.
Roche remains fully committed to HIV through both research and access initiatives in developing regions.
Globally, there are 2 major issues to address in fighting HIV:
- The bulk of the infection affects the developing world where access to healthcare and therapy is the biggest obstacle
- There is an urgent need for new drugs to combat the drug-resistant virus in the developed world
Roche is addressing both fronts in the battle against HIV:
- We are actively providing two drugs (Invirase and Viracept paediatric powder) at no-profit prices to sub- Saharan Africa and the world�s Least Developed Countries, and are working with strategic partners to bring care to those in need.
- We are investing approximately US$500 million to develop HIV fusion inhibitors, the most complex HIV treatment ever made, to fight the problem of growing resistance in the developed world.
In advance of our full public response, we would like to make the following points:
We remain in good faith discussions with Pfizer- and through them with Japan tobacco, licensors of Viracept- in order to achieve further price reductions in Africa and the LDCs.
Our focus remains on addressing regions where the need is greatest and most urgent. MSF are highlighting apparent price discrepancies in Africa, we believe these are as a result of local distributors adding local mark ups and taxes rather than the price we cite available as direct purchase from Roche. We are most willing to work with MSF to clarify issues such as this and will appreciate the origin of this information to facilitate our investigation.
In middle-income countries Roche is committed to reviewing current policy and we will publicly communicate a full update on our global policy.
We ask everyone to maintain open and constructive dialogue with Roche to resolve this situation and to ensure that the latest developments and new information from our clinical research remain available to physicians and their patients.
David Reddy, HIV Franchise Leader
