Public health groups launch global campaign against Abbott Labs' monopoly on critical AIDS medicine

A global campaign to challenge US health care major Abbott Laboratories’ (NYSE: ABT) monopolistic hold on Kaletra (lopinavir+ritonavir), a critical HIV/AIDS medicine, was launched yesterday by public health groups in a dozen or so countries. The goal is to spur competition by generic drugmakers and thereby lower the medicine’s price, as well as to free up its components for new and improved combination treatments.

In countries from the USA to Vietnam, Brazil to Indonesia, health groups are aiming to break Abbott’s monopoly control over Kaletra. Campaigners say Abbott’s high price for Kaletra is blocking expansion of AIDS treatment, and its anti-competitive practices are impeding new drug innovation. The new campaign comprises an unprecedented global effort to fight Big Pharma’s political power and improve access to lifesaving medicines.

Call for authorization of generic competition