J-P Garnier, CEO of the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline talks about the company's role in providing HIV drugs for the developing world, in an exclusive interview with The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
GSK were the first pharmaceutical company to sell not-for-profit HIV and malaria drugs in Africa and are continuing the trend: "[We] have recently introduced the newer modern HIV drugs (Kivaxa [abacavir and lamuvadine] and Telzir [fosamprenvir]) to our not-for-profit package as well as lowering the price of existing drugs in the package," says Garnier.
He makes a point about how generic drug companies threaten the need for patents. "…while they sell their drugs at low prices in the developing world; the real prize for them is in more lucrative markets in Europe and the USA--it's here that patents are needed to protect our innovation, discovery, and investment", he says
Of diseases afflicting the developing world, Garnier says: "We have vaccines in clinical trials for all three diseases and continue to discover and develop new treatments. Crucially, as we find new drugs and vaccines for these diseases, we are committed to making them as widely available as possible at preferential prices."
Contact:
Dr Pam Das
Senior Editor
The Lancet Infectious Diseases
pamela.das@lancet.com
Journal
The Lancet Infectious Diseases