Protest Over U.S. Price Of AIDS Drug

The National Institutes of Health plans to respond before the end of the month to another petition asking the agency to use a little-known provision in a federal law to override patents held by Abbott Laboratories and allow generic production of Norvir (ritonavir), a protease inhibitor that helps suppress HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. NIH rejected a similar request in 2004. Norvir received federal funding in the early stages of its development. The drug now costs much more in the U.S. than in Canada, Europe, and other countries with comparable income levels. A survey conducted this past August found that prices charged in eight high-income countries for a single 100-mg tablet or capsule of Norvir ranged from $1.02 to $2.16, compared with the average wholesale price of $10.29 in the U.S. Consequently, a coalition of consumer and medical groups has petitioned NIH to exercise a legal option known as ...