Compulsory license for ddI was put aside for the compromise solution of the ddI powder. However, even the generic ddI powder remains out of reach in Thailand:
It is unlikely that the CDC of the Thai Ministry of Public Health will purchase the ddI powder from GPO (see Bangkok Post Feb 2, http://www.bangkokpost.com/today/020200_News14.html)apparently because BMS offers a price reduction from previously 41baht to 31 baht for its 100 mg tablets (only for the CDC not the private market!)
GPO can reduce the price of the powder from the previously announced 27 baht to 20 baht for its 170 mg powder preparation if they receive a sufficiently large order (i.e. from the CDC).
Using the US FDA recommended dosages the daily price would then be: 124 baht (approx. $3.3) for the discounted (!) BMS product (400 mg per day) 60 baht (approx. $ 1.6) for GPO powder (500 mg per day).
If the Thai CDC purchases from BMS it would signal that the powder is not acceptable to them and that compulsory license is still needed.
The CDC director though clearly stated for the Bangkok Post that he does not want compulsory license to be used!
The question is: what is going on in the Thai CDC?
Tido von Schoen-Angerer
Medecins sans frontieres, Thailand
msfdrugs@asianet.co.th
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