Abbott agrees with WHO to expand access to lopinavir / ritonavir

Apr 10 2007

Abbott and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Margaret Chan, have agreed on a balanced approach to provide Kaletra/Aluvia (lopinavir/ritonavir) capsules and tablets to more patients in the developing world, while supporting continued long-term biopharmaceutical research and development.

In the interest of international public health, Director-General Chan approached Abbott to discuss how to improve affordability and access while maintaining incentives to support developing new medicines.

To meet the needs of countries committed to expanding HIV/AIDS treatment, Abbott will offer the governments of more than 40 low and low-middle income countries (as defined by World Bank criteria) and NGOs a new price of $1,000 per patient per year. This price is lower than any generic price available in the world today for this medicine and is approximately 55 percent less than the average current price for these countries.

Abbott will immediately begin discussions with individual countries where Abbott's patents are respected to maximize the number of patients that can be provided Kaletra/Aluvia capsules and tablets at this new price.

Abbott is taking this action in order to further increase access and address the debate around pricing of HIV medicines: by increasing affordability while preserving the system that enables the discovery of new medicines. The patents of scientists and inventors must exist so that there are incentives for sustained research and development. Without this system, the miracle drugs the world enjoys today, including HIV medicines, would not exist.

Specifically, with regard to Thailand, Abbott appreciates and fully respects the suggestion of Director-General Chan that more work needs to be done with the government of Thailand to achieve a positive outcome. Meanwhile, Kaletra capsules remain available in Thailand and will be eligible for the new price.

Today, Kaletra capsules are registered in 118 countries, making it the most widely registered HIV medicine. Kaletra/Aluvia tablets will be registered in more than 150 countries at the completion of the registration process.

Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir) is indicated for the treatment of HIV-1 infected adults and children above the age of 2 years, in combination with other antiretroviral agents.

Most experience with Kaletra is derived from the use of the product in antiretroviral therapy naive patients. Data in heavily pretreated protease inhibitor experienced patients are limited. There are limited data on salvage therapy on patients who have failed therapy with Kaletra.

The choice of Kaletra to treat protease inhibitor experienced HIV-1 infected patients should be based on individual viral resistance testing and treatment history of patients. Kaletra is not recommended for use in children below 2 years of age due to insufficient data on safety and efficacy.