March 23, 2002
Thailand To Launch Cheapest AIDS Drug
Bangkok,, March 22: Thailand plans to launch what it says is the world's cheapest anti-AIDS drug cocktail next month, health officials said on Friday. The first batch of 120,000 tablets of GPO-VIR, produced by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), will be made available at state hospitals and drugstores in April, at a cost of 20 baht ($0.46) a tablet, the health ministry said in a statement. "This is the cheapest anti-retroviral pill in the world, which will help them treat HIV/AIDS patients more effectively since they won't need to take three pills at a time," GPO director Thongchai Tavichachart said. The drug is a combination of three anti-retroviral drugs --Stavudine 30-40 mg, Lamivudine 150 mg and Nevirapine 200 mg -- that are usually prescribed separately to patients. Around 30 per cent of Thailand's 695,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers take anti-retroviral drugs regularly and the new single pill will cut their monthly medicine cost by half to 1,200 baht. Thai AIDS sufferers normally pay about 2,400 baht a month for their doses of the three drugs, which were already produced locally. Mr Thongchai said imported versions cost Thais about 10,000 baht a month. After six months of initial production, the GPO plans to expand its monthly capacity to three million tablets a month, and six million tablets a month within a year. - Reuters
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