Novartis said it is to cut significantly the price of Riamet, its malaria treatment used in Africa, said today's New York Times.
Citing Mr David Alnwick, who manages the World Health Organisation's malaria efforts, the report said Novartis had agreed to sell Riamet to the WHO at $2 per treatment; in Western markets the price is $20.
Mr Alnwick said the $2 price was still far above what most Africans could afford, the report said. "Two dollars is better than twenty," he said, "but it is still far more than 20 cents."
Riamet is crucial to treating malaria because many strains of the disease have become resistant to the older and cheaper drugs, the report said.
It added that Novartis chairman and chief executive Mr Daniel Vasella said he could not reduce the price of Riamet below the company's costs of producing it.
Drug companies must be allowed to charge prices high enough to cover the cost of finding and developing new medicines, he said.
AFP