[Ip-health] WSJ: Merck Still Draws Fire for HIV Drug For Poor Nations

[Mike Palmedo]

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107826509583244527-email,00.html

Merck Still Draws Fire for HIV Drug For Poor Nations

Rachel Zimmerman
Wall Street Journal
March 3, 2004

More than a year after Merck & Co. drew praise from AIDS activists for
offering a reduced-price version of an important new HIV drug for poor
countries, the medicine hasn't been approved for sale in many of the
nations hard hit by the epidemic.

Only 100,000 of the 4.4 million people in need of antiretroviral therapy
in Africa are getting it, according to the World Health Organization.

Under pressure from activists and generic competitors, Merck in October
2002 offered its new once-a-day 600-milligram version of the AIDS drug
Stocrin for 95 cents in the poorest countries. The older version of
Stocrin, three 200-mg pills a day, costs $1.37 daily in poor countries.

But Merck still hasn't obtained government approval to sell the drug in
African countries that remain hotspots for AIDS, including South Africa,
Nigeria, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It also
remains unapproved in Indonesia.

"It appears this announcement was a calculated attempt to gain media
attention for a product launch in wealthy markets," says Rachel Cohen, a
spokeswoman for the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders.