Government refuses Thailand's offer of cheaper drugs

The South African government has not taken up a Thai government offer of free technology for the production of 300 generic drug labels that could reduce prices for HIV/AIDS medicines even further.

In the past three years, Thailand has produced more than 300 different types of generic drugs at between a fifth and a tenth of the price of multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Thailand has promised not to rest until every African country has generic drugs for HIV/AIDS and has vowed to "ring South Africa with countries producing cheap drugs if it refuses to help its people," the Mail and Guardian newspaper reported this week.

Sibani Mngadi, spokesperson for the department of health, told PlusNews on Friday that there was "no need to pursue" Thailand's offer of manufacturing a generic version of Fluconazole as the government had an existing arrangement with pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

The government entered into a partnership programme with Pfizer in 2000 to provide Diflucan to treat cryptococcal meningitis in patients with HIV/AIDS at government hospitals.

Regarding the manufacture of other generic drugs, minister of health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had recently undertaken a fact-finding mission to Brazil and India to investigate "what's best for South Africa," Mngadi said. Brazil and India have managed to sidestep pharmaceutical patents and are producing cheaper, generic drugs.

Mngadi stressed that neither the minister nor the department had received any offer from Thailand. "We still need to look at the details (of the offer) and decide how it will benefit South Africa," he added.

The government could not currently provide long-term antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, as there were several challenges to overcome, he said. The cost of providing ARV drugs was still prohibitive and the health system lacked the capacity for such a programme.

Sustainability was another obstacle, as "these offers don't state for how long they will provide this assistance," he added.

The government was engaged in continuous discussions with pharmaceutical companies and other interested parties to find solutions to these problems he said.

"There is a lack of political will in South Africa. I am willing to transfer technology if South Africa gives the green light. They have a very good manufacturing infrastructure and if they made the request, they could begin rolling out generic drugs within six months," Dr Kirsana Kraisintu, director of research and development for the Thai government pharmaceutical organisation was quoted as saying.