PharmAsia News
August 15, 2013
Executive SummaryFollowing an agreement by six multinational firms – including GlaxoSmithKline and AbbVie – to cut prices for antiretrovirals, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control is looking to import generic drugs for its free HIV drug reimbursement program, which has met with success only to see costs explode.
Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is now looking to buy generic HIV/AIDs antiretroviral drugs after securing price cuts from six multinational firms as it seeks to control costs in a free medicines program.
Six anti-retroviral medication suppliers, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AbbVie Inc., Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Boehringer Ingelheim GMBH and Johnson & Johnson agreed to reduce the price of 11 products 2%-25% beginning July 1, a deal which followed several rounds of talks.
The products are BMS’ Reyataz (atazanavir), J&J’s Prezista (darunavir), Merck’s Stocrit (efavirenz), Boehringer Ingelheim’s Viramune (nevirapine), AbbVie’s Kaletra (ritonavir/lopinavir) and GSK’s Celsentri (maraviroc) and GSK’s lamivudine portfolio 3TC (lamivudine), Kivexa (lamivudine/abacavir), Combivir (lamivudine/zidovudine).
The move is expected to save NT$200 million ($6.6 million) each year, according to a CDC statement. But a CDC official told PharmAsia News that the savings fall short to continue running the program, in place since 1997, for free which now accounts for more than NT $2 billion ($66 million), or more than one third of CDC’s annual budget.
Patient Co-Pay Stumbles
Plans to get the nation’s 22,000 patients to co-pay a portion of treatments – which have contributed to a 53% decrease in transmission rates, according to a study done by local researchers in 2004 – has hit a roadblock, and further savings are needed.
“We have to amend the law in order for this to happen,” the official said, explaining that the current law stipulates CDC as the sole funder of the free HIV/AIDS drug program.
Under the proposed system, those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, like patients of cancer and other diseases, would have to pay for part of their medication. The national health insurance system would pay for the other half, the official said.
Though more financially sustainable, the co-payment scheme is criticized by advocacy groups who worry HIV/AIDS sufferers who could not afford the drugs would drop out in the middle of a treatment and cause a rise in transmission rate.
Price Cuts The First Step
The CDC official said because of the legislative stumbling block on co-payments, price cuts by multinationals were only the first step in trimming costs. The agency is mulling other measures, including importing generic drugs and having the government procure them in bulk quantity for local hospitals.
“It should lower the [drug] price a bit more,” the official said.
Taiwan is not considering more drastic steps seen in Indonesia and Thailand among other countries to issue compulsory licenses for HIV/AIDS drugs. In Indonesia, state-owned Kimia Farma was tapped by the government to produce seven second-line anti-retrovirals under a compulsory license issued in September 2012, but it is unclear when the drugs might become available.
But as costs for medical care explode in greater China, Taiwan stands out as one of the more generous national reimbursement programs with policymakers focused on growing a domestic drug industry to meet demand and control costs, especially for medicines to treat chronic diseases.
Taiwan also has plans to carve a niche in the international biotech pharmaceutical market through a government-funded incubator program. It is aiming at innovative drugs to treat liver cancer, lung cancer and tuberculosis.
Executive SummaryFollowing an agreement by six multinational firms – including GlaxoSmithKline and AbbVie – to cut prices for antiretrovirals, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control is looking to import generic drugs for its free HIV drug reimbursement program, which has met with success only to see costs explode.
Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is now looking to buy generic HIV/AIDs antiretroviral drugs after securing price cuts from six multinational firms as it seeks to control costs in a free medicines program.
Six anti-retroviral medication suppliers, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AbbVie Inc., Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Boehringer Ingelheim GMBH and Johnson & Johnson agreed to reduce the price of 11 products 2%-25% beginning July 1, a deal which followed several rounds of talks.
The products are BMS’ Reyataz (atazanavir), J&J’s Prezista (darunavir), Merck’s Stocrit (efavirenz), Boehringer Ingelheim’s Viramune (nevirapine), AbbVie’s Kaletra (ritonavir/lopinavir) and GSK’s Celsentri (maraviroc) and GSK’s lamivudine portfolio 3TC (lamivudine), Kivexa (lamivudine/abacavir), Combivir (lamivudine/zidovudine).
The move is expected to save NT$200 million ($6.6 million) each year, according to a CDC statement. But a CDC official told PharmAsia News that the savings fall short to continue running the program, in place since 1997, for free which now accounts for more than NT $2 billion ($66 million), or more than one third of CDC’s annual budget.
Patient Co-Pay Stumbles
Plans to get the nation’s 22,000 patients to co-pay a portion of treatments – which have contributed to a 53% decrease in transmission rates, according to a study done by local researchers in 2004 – has hit a roadblock, and further savings are needed.
“We have to amend the law in order for this to happen,” the official said, explaining that the current law stipulates CDC as the sole funder of the free HIV/AIDS drug program.
Under the proposed system, those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, like patients of cancer and other diseases, would have to pay for part of their medication. The national health insurance system would pay for the other half, the official said.
Though more financially sustainable, the co-payment scheme is criticized by advocacy groups who worry HIV/AIDS sufferers who could not afford the drugs would drop out in the middle of a treatment and cause a rise in transmission rate.
Price Cuts The First Step
The CDC official said because of the legislative stumbling block on co-payments, price cuts by multinationals were only the first step in trimming costs. The agency is mulling other measures, including importing generic drugs and having the government procure them in bulk quantity for local hospitals.
“It should lower the [drug] price a bit more,” the official said.
Taiwan is not considering more drastic steps seen in Indonesia and Thailand among other countries to issue compulsory licenses for HIV/AIDS drugs. In Indonesia, state-owned Kimia Farma was tapped by the government to produce seven second-line anti-retrovirals under a compulsory license issued in September 2012, but it is unclear when the drugs might become available.
But as costs for medical care explode in greater China, Taiwan stands out as one of the more generous national reimbursement programs with policymakers focused on growing a domestic drug industry to meet demand and control costs, especially for medicines to treat chronic diseases.
Taiwan also has plans to carve a niche in the international biotech pharmaceutical market through a government-funded incubator program. It is aiming at innovative drugs to treat liver cancer, lung cancer and tuberculosis.