Merck & Co., Inc. Responds to Aids Activists’ Pleas; Reduces Price of Stocrin by 40% in Mexico, Notes AHF

MEXICO CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As more than 20,000 people from around the world gather this weekend for the start of the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) the US-based NGO which provides HIV/AIDS medical care and/or services to more than 79,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide—including at four free treatment clinics in Mexico—commended Merck & Company (known as Merck, Sharp & Dohme in Mexico) over price cuts on two of its key AIDS drugs in Mexico which were announced yesterday before Sunday’s opening of the AIDS conference. Merck cut its price of Stocrin (efavirenz, branded as Sustiva in the US) in Mexico by 40% from 777 pesos per patient monthly to 468 pesos (roughly from $77.50 USD to $46 USD), and on Isentress (raltegravir) by 30% from 9.050 pesos to 6.851 pesos per patient monthly ($903 USD to $683 USD)
MORE ON THIS TOPIC