Distinguished Prix Galien Committee Members, and, in particular, Mr. President
Open letter We are writing to you on behalf of the Community Advisory Board of Patients in Eastern Europe and Central Asia [EECA CAB], which unites representatives of communities of people living with HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis from fifteen countries in the EECA region to encourage provision of comprehensive treatment for all who need it. We are writing to you to express our sincere perplexity and outrage with regard to presenting the Galien Award -- whose prestige in the area of pharmaceuticals can be compared with that of the Nobel Prize -- to the company Merck, Sharp & Dohme for the drug boceprevir, which is used in the treatment of hepatitis C. As you well know, Merck has for some time now been supplying the market with pegylated interferon – currently a key component in the treatment of hepatitis C. But the prices set by the company are such that the majority of patients cannot afford to purchase these drugs or are forced to take extreme measures in order to simply survive, since the average annual cost of treatment worldwide fluctuates around $15,000 USD. The drug VICTRELIS ® (boceprevir 200 mg), for which Merck received such an important award, is taken only in combination with pegylated interferons, and the cost of boceprevir treatment can reach up to $40,000 USD (not taking into account the price for peginterferons, according to information obtained from public sources). Therefore, the number of patients who can afford such expensive treatment is minimised. Furthermore, in many countries where the disease burden is particularly heavy, boceprevir is still not accessible, and it is unlikely to become accessible in the near future given the current pricing. It is estimated that 130170 million people are infected with viral hepatitis C worldwide, and that in the EECA region approximately 7 million people are living with this disease. The average wage in EECA countries is approximately $6,000 a year, which means that the drug is not accessible to the majority of patients requiring it. As is known, the drug boceprevir is not unique in its category, and in the current year, a different company actually released a drug that has similar effects and characteristics. In addition, as you most likely know, a number of pharmaceutical companies are currently developing drugs that can be taken without pegylated interferon, and whose effectiveness against the hepatitis C virus is notably higher (according to clinical trials). For us, as for representatives from the community of patients, all of these facts cast doubt upon both the scientific and the social value of boceprevir’s invention and market penetration, while clearly emphasising its economic benefits to the company. With all due respect we would like to urge to the Prix Galien Committee, we are writing to you with an urgent request: to prioritize scientific and social achievements over economic ones when selecting the award’s recipients, in the future, scientific and social achievements should prevail over economic ones. In the case of Merck, Sharpe & Dohme and the drug boceprevir, the benefits for the company, in our view, substantially outweigh any contribution to the advancement of global health.
http://itpcru.org/eecacab/ http://ecuo.org/ru/ecuo/advocacy/ecca-cab/