Funeral procession to protest high cost of AIDS drugs

Aug 6, 2008, 22:57 GMT

Mexico City - More than a hundred AIDS activists participated in a mock funeral procession Wednesday to protest against pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories' spiralling costs of the antiretroviral drug Kaletra.

Activists from Colombia, the United States, France, Guatemala and Mexico wore black robes and white skull masks as they carried a coffin outside the venue of the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.

The woman lying still in the coffin had a sign pasted on her forehead that said she was 'dead because of lack of Kaletra.' The protestors wailed, shouted and rang bells as they circled the conference venue.

Activists said the drug costs 500 dollars in Mexico, but is priced at 50 dollars in some other countries. They accused Abbott of being the only pharmaceutical company that refused to negotiate with the Mexican government and NGOs to lower the prices of AIDS drugs.

The cost of HIV/AIDS drugs is becoming a major issue in the capacity of AIDS-affected countries to deliver widespread and equitable treatment and care.

Kaletra, which is generically called Lopinavir/Ritonavir, is a critical drug as it has fewer side-effects than other toxic antiretroviral combinations. It doesn't require refrigeration, an important feature in developing countries that have areas with intermittent or no electricity.

Protests are not new to Abbott, which was forced to close its booth at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok in 2004.

After several failed negotiations with Abbott since 2005, Thailand issued a compulsory license in 2007 to overcome a patent barrier on Lopinavir/Ritonavir. This enabled the country to either legally import it or produce it locally.