GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is set to cut prices of a number of vaccine and pharmaceutical products marketed in Bangladesh by up to 61 percent, starting in August.
The price cut is GSK’s Action for Access healthcare initiative to provide healthcare in the least develop countries within people’s ability to pay, said Duncan Learmouth, chairman of GSK Bangladesh, in a press briefing in Dhaka yesterday.
GSK will charge prices for its patented products such as medicines and vaccines in LDCs at no more than 25 percent of the West European average price, he added.
GSK Bangladesh, a subsidiary of the UK-based GSK Plc, started its operation in 1949 in Chittagong. The company offers vaccines for the prevention of hepatitis, influenza, chickenpox, diphtheria and tetanus.
The new prices will be effective for nearly 15 vaccine and 5 pharmaceutical products, said M Azizul Huq, managing director of GSK Bangladesh.
The price of cervical cancer vaccine will come down to Tk 1,400, a 61 percent decline, and the price of hepatitis A vaccine will be reduced by 20 percent, he said.
The pharmaceutical company also said GSK Bangladesh will reinvest 20 percent of the profit made in the country in healthcare infrastructure as per its global commitment.
-With The Daily Star input
