MSF refuses to sign ViiV’s last-minute NDA for access to most-effective HIV prevention drug CAB-LA
Signing confidentiality clauses on supply & pricing blocks transparency and accountability
Aug 17, 2023 —Today, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) asked ViiV Healthcare to withdraw conditions in negotiations for a purchase agreement that are holding up procurement of the preventative HIV drug cabotegravir long-acting (CAB-LA) for key and vulnerable populations*, due to the pharmaceutical corporation’s last-minute insertion of terms that are not acceptable in MSF purchase agreements. This includes conditions that undermine supply security for patients because ViiV retains the power to terminate the contract or refuse the purchase order without just reasons, and a confidentiality clause, akin to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), on the drug’s price and supply terms.
“MSF has been trying to access CAB-LA since January 2022 and are stuck in an infuriating situation: there’s a lifesaving HIV prevention drug at our fingertips, but ViiV, the only corporation producing CAB-LA for at least the next three to four years, is deliberately putting up red tape to delay access for people in our care.
“We are ready to start offering CAB-LA to people for the prevention of HIV in Mozambique and other countries, but signing a purchase agreement that lacks supply assurance and does not allow us to disclose the prices we pay is untenable – it would perpetuate a system that continues to undermine transparency, limit civil society activism for lower drug prices and restrict supply to low- and middle-income countries. These agreements essentially blindfold governments and procurers during future price negotiations.
“ViiV must stop stalling, immediately withdraw the confidentiality clause, and amend the restrictive supply-related terms so that we can make sure people in our care are offered the most effective HIV prevention as quickly as possible. While we anxiously wait to access this drug, vulnerable people continue to be at risk of HIV infection. MSF remains open to finding an immediate solution and awaits the response from ViiV.”
*Includes sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, people in prisons and transgender people, and their sexual partners, as well as people in general populations, such as women and girls.
Contact:
Morag McKenzie (she/her)
Communications Officer | MSF Access Campaign
Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders 
Email: morag.mckenzie@berlin.msf.org
Phone: +49 30 700130511 | WhatsApp: +49 172 525 1319
Based in Berlin, Germany | CET
Source: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/msf-refuses-to-sign-viivs-last-minute-nda-for-access-to-most-effective-hiv-prevention-drug-cab-la/
"Reproduced with permission - Doctors Without Borders - Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)"
Doctors Without Borders - Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
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