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Published on July 9, 2007

The company's HIV communications director Dirk Van Eden said he was "disappointed" to see a 24-per-cent increase in defence spending compared with just 4.7 per cent for health in the next fiscal year.

However, Thai Aids activists slammed the comparison as "absurd". The problem is not about money but the need for access by infected people to life-saving medicine at reasonable prices, they said.

Thailand in January imposed compulsory licensing on some drugs including one of Abbot's products.

That means it can ignore the company's patents and produce or buy cheaper, generic versions itself. The generic version of the Kaletra lopinavir/ritonavir treatment is about 30-per-cent cheaper than the original drug.

"Under these circumstances, it's difficult for us to understand how Thailand can say it can't afford to pay for HIV drugs," Van Eden said from the United States. "Thailand's problem with its HIV budget is not poverty but priority."

Nimit Tien-udom, director of Aids Access Foundation said: "No matter how much money the government will allocate to HIV, it won't be enough to pay for the unreasonably expensive drugs. The problem is not about how much the government has to pay for HIV drugs but more about the fact that the company wants to sell us the drug at irrational prices."

Public-health officials added Van Eden had quoted wrong figures and was in "total ignorance of the health budget".

National Health Office secretary-general Dr Sanguan Nitayarumpong said money for HIV came from a separate fund that is not included in the annual budget of the Public Health Ministry.

Government funding of that increases every year, Sanguan said. Next year, money for drug purchases is Bt4 billion - a rise from Bt3.5 billion this year and Bt2.7 billion last year.

Abbott wants to persuade Thailand to cancel its plan to buy cheap, generic Kaletra from manufacturers in India. After Thailand imposed the compulsory licensing, Abbot offered to reduce the price of original drugs from US$2,200 (Bt74,800) per patient per year to $1,000. But, the Indian-made version will cost just $695 per patient per year.

Food and Drug Administration secretary-general and chief negotiator for drug prices, Dr Siriwat Tiptaradol, said the country was prepared to pay Abbot 5 per cent more than the cost of the generic version, nothing higher.

Van Eden said the company would continue to negotiate although it had reduced prices as far as it was prepared to - equal to those offered to 45 other middle-low-income countries.

Nantiya Tangwisutijit,

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation