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From: rjw@PacBell.COM (Rod Williams)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,soc.motss
Subject: Re: Why AZT is so expensive
Message-ID: <1428@pbhyd.PacBell.COM>
Date: 19 Sep 89 18:21:56 GMT
References: <26871@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <1187@nih-csl.UUCP> <2434@aecom.yu.edu> <1704@hydra.riacs.edu> <2446@aecom.yu.edu> <1711@hydra.riacs.edu> <4612@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM>
Reply-To: rjw@PacBell.COM (Rod Williams)
Followup-To: sci.bio
Organization: Pacific Bell Enclave at Bellcore
Lines: 30

>You probably know now that today B-W lowered the price of AZT from
>roughly $1.50/capsule to $1.20.

In today's (9/19) New York Times, the article reporting this also
includes :

    Robert Uhl, a pharmaceutical analyst with Salomon Brothers in
    New York said he believes the company [Burroughs-Wellcome] has
    already recovered its initial investment in the drug, which 
    has been estimated at $80 million to $180 million.  Estimates
    of the company's annual profit from the drug now range from
    $25 million to $100 million per year, depending on how they
    are calculated.

    Estimates of the cost of producing the $1.20 capsule, aside
    from research and development, range from 7 to 15 cents per
    capsule, by Dr. Mathilde Krim of the American Foundation for
    AIDS Research, to 33 to 53 cents, by industry analysts.

The article also says that people with 'advanced cases of AIDS' need
12 capsules per day, while asymptomatic HIV+ people generally take 5
capsules per day.  More than 20,000 people worldwide are currently
taking AZT.  That's expected to rise to 100,000 as a result of the
recent studies showing its effectiveness in delaying the onset of
the disease in asymptomatic HIV+ people, with perhaps 'several
hundred thousand more' eligible to take it.
-- 
Rod Williams                       * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Bellcore                           *    Don't hang about in the closet -   *
Piscataway, New Jersey             *    Wear yourself out!                 *