NORTH CHICAGO, Ill.-Abbott Laboratories said Tuesday it will make its two AIDS drugs and HIV diagnostic test available in AIDS-ravaged Africa at no profit, becoming the latest pharmaceutical giant to bow to international pressure on the issue.
Subject to the price cuts are its protease-inhibitor drugs, Kaletra and Norvir, which sell wholesale at $6,500 and $7,100 a year per patient in the United States. The company did not immediately announce new prices, but manufacturing costs for each are believed to be under $1,000.
Even with a drastic drop in price, “there’s still a major problem with distribution,” said Stefan Loren, an analyst for Legg Mason in Baltimore. “Abbott is the first company to imply that they’re going to work on the distribution as well.”
More than two-thirds of the world’s HIV-positive people live in impoverished sub-Saharan Africa.
