Merck & Co., Inc. has announced a reduction in the price of its HIV/AIDS medicine, Stocrin (efavirenz), in the least developed countries of the world and those hardest hit by the epidemic.

The price of the 600 mg formulation of Stocrin has been reduced by 14.5 per cent to US$0.65 per day, or US$237.25 per patient per year, from $0.76 per day, for purchasers in countries in the low category of the Human Development Index (HDI) and in medium HDI countries with an adult HIV prevalence of 1 per cent or greater. In medium HDI countries with an adult HIV prevalence of less than 1 per cent, the price of the 600 mg formulation of Stocrin will be reduced by 5.8 per cent, to US $1.80 per day, or US $657.00 per patient per year, from US $1.91 per day.

Merck is lowering the price of the 600 mg formulation of Stocrin due to efficiencies resulting from improved manufacturing processes. This is the second time that the company has reduced the price of this formulation in less than a year. The prices of other formulations of Stocrin and Merck's other HIV/AIDS medicine, Crixivan (indinavir sulfate), remain unchanged.

"Merck has long been a leader in efforts to broaden access to our medicines for those who need them around the world," said Merck CEO and president Richard T. Clark, "Today's price reductions reflect our continuing commitment to improve the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS throughout the developing world."

As a result of Merck's differential pricing policy, at the end of 2006 some 500,000 patients in 76 developing countries were being treated with antiretroviral regimens containing Stocrin and Crixivan.

These prices are available to all HIV/AIDS care and treatment providers who can demonstrate with reasonable assurance their capacity to ensure increased patient access. For example, providers include governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector organizations (such as employers, insurers and hospitals).

Under the MSD HIV/AIDS pricing policy, the medicines must be used in the country where they are sold and may not be exported.

Merck first announced that it was reducing the prices of Stocrin and Crixivan in developing countries to prices at which the company makes no profit on March 7, 2001. Since then, access to HIV medicines has accelerated in the least developed countries and those countries where HIV/AIDS has hit hardest.

Stocrin is a once-daily, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) used in combination treatment for HIV. People living with HIV/AIDS have the option of taking one 600 mg Stocrin tablet once-daily instead of three 200 mg capsules. The 600 mg tablet is approved in more than 90 countries.