A Cost Of Living Adjustment
In the middle income national markets, Merck charges $1.80 per pill per day for Efavirenz. Merck charges $1.57 per pill per day. In Brazil. Merck's last-and-final offer to Brazil was $1.10 per pill per day. Merck charges $0.65 per pill per day. In Thailand.
The same drug is available from India for $0.45 per pill per day. Effective today, Brazil will import Efavirenz from India, from a manufacturer not licensed by Merck.
In Brazil its only 200,000 people living from pill to pill. In Africa south of the Sahara the number of people not getting pills, let alone living from pill to pill, on most of a dollar per pill per day, is vastly larger.
Prior posts: Public health is always politics and Wrong number.