VALGANCICLOVIR*

Key Features

Background: The Agreement between MPP and Roche

In 2013, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) announced an agreement with Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche to increase access to valganciclovir, an important easy-to-take oral medicine to treat cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV is a viral infection that can cause blindness in people living with HIV. As from July 2018, both parties renewed this agreement.

The MPP/Roche agreement provides a price reduction of up to 90% on the Roche product for people living with HIV in 138 developing countries

Access the full text of the agreement

The price of valganciclovir under the agreement

The price negotiated by the MPP for valganciclovir with Roche is 200 CHF per pack (approx. 177 EUR/201 USD) plus VAT on an ex-Works Roche, Basel basis. Costs such as freight and insurance are not included. The minimum order size is 50 packs of valganciclovir; each pack contains 60 tablets of valganciclovir 450mg.

How to benefit from this price

Contact the Medicines Patent Pool

If an entity wishes to benefit from the discounted price, it should sign an Acknowledgement Letter (available below). Through this letter the entity states that it is an eligible “Organisation” (see below) as defined in the agreement, acknowledges receipt of a copy of the Agreement, and agrees to be bound by the terms applicable to such an Organisation. The relevant obligations relate primarily to:

• The geographical scope for the use of Roche’s valganciclovir (138 countries, See Annex 1 below) and,
• That such use should be to treat and/or prevent CMV infection in relation to HIV therapy.

To receive a copy of the Acknowledgement Letter, click on one of the following files:

• Acknowledgement Letter
• Acknowledgement with courtesy Spanish translation Letter
  Note: Only responses in English will be accepted

Contact Mr Chan Park the MPP’s General Counsel if the above files do not work.

Contact Roche

Once the Acknowledgement Letter has been signed and sent to MPP, the organisation should contact Roche directly to order valganciclovir, via the information below:

Nicole Steiner
Order & Distribution Manager Direct Markets F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd,
Building 228/3.30
CH-4070 Basel, Switzerland
Phone +41 61 688 8846
email: nicole.steiner@roche.com

The organisation shall place orders directly with Roche and copy Ms Sandra Nobre, Head of Business Development at the MPP.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility to benefit from this agreement, per the agreement between the MPP and Roche, is limited to not-for-profit HIV treatment organisations, including:

• Not-for-profit HIV treatment organisations,
• National HIV treatment programmes,
• the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,
• the United States Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,
• Unitaid,
• Médecins Sans Frontières,
• any other similar organisations identified by MPP and accepted by Roche.

Annex 1 – List of countries included in this agreement