GlaxoSmithKline, the world's largest maker of HIV/AIDS drugs, said it had nearly halved the price of its leading Combivir treatment in poor countries to 90 US cents a day.
The move is the latest sign the international pharmaceutical industry is bowing to pressure to improve access to life-saving antiretroviral medicines in Africa and other parts of the developing world where AIDS has hit hardest.
Activists have recently been joined in demanding such action by leading investors, who fear a failure to respond adequately could damage company reputations and jeopardise future profits.
Under the latest price scheme, the cost of Combivir to governments, non-governmental organisations and many employers will fall to 90 US cents per patient a day from $1.70.
The medicine - a combination of AZT and 3TC - is central to many triple-drug therapies that have turned HIV infection into a manageable condition for many people in the West but are largely unavailable in developing countries.
The price for the two component drugs, when sold separately, will also come down by 38% and 45% respectively to 75 and 35 cents a day.
British-based GSK, which has stated in the past it would not sell AIDS drug sales at a profit in the developing world, said the price cuts were made possible by continuing improvements in manufacturing processes and economies of scale.
Industry critics were sceptical of this.
"Glaxo may say they have found some new way to bring down the price, but it's kind of funny when you consider that two years ago generic companies had already figured out how to make it at a much lower price," said Daniel Berman of Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Berman said any price reduction was welcome and cheaper Combivir would be a particular help in those countries where generic - or non-patented - products were not available.
But GSK's medicine remained more costly than generics, with India's Ranbaxy Laboratories offering the same treatment at 73 cents a day in a tablet approved by the World Health Organisation, he said.
Richard Feacham, executive director for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said GSK's move was another step towards expanding access of antiretrovirals to millions of people who needed them.
"This must be matched by increased resources to finance the purchase of medications," he said in a statement.
Despite steep price cuts for poor countries in recent years and competition from generic drugs, combination therapy remains out of reach for the vast majority of those in the developing world.
The AIDS pandemic has killed 3.1 million people around the world and 42 million people were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2002, 29.4 million of them in Africa.
UNAIDS, the United Nations agency spearheading the battle against the disease, calculates that by 2007 the world will have to find some $US15 billion a year to successfully treat and combat AIDS in low and middle income countries.
© Reuters
