Cheap anti-HIV drug pulls
Asian visitors to Thailand
Generic Truvada pill offers huge savings for medical
trippers
T
Thailand’s BDMS medical group
moves to take over competitor
Efforts to acquire US$3.2 billion of Bumrungrad’s remaining
shares now in the works
T
hailand’s largest private healthcare group has launched a
takeover attempt of one of Southeast Asia’s biggest private
hospitals.
Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS) made the
unsolicited tender offer to buy the remaining shares in
Bumrungrad International Hospital it didn’t already own at 125
baht each. It’s currently the hospital’s biggest shareholder, with
25 percent of its shares.
A tender offer is a public request to shareholders to sell
their stock at a specified price that is usually higher than the
company’s stock price.
BDMS’s bid amounts to US$3.2 billion and is subject to
BDMS shareholder and antitrust approvals. Its shareholders will
decide whether to approve the transaction on April 10.
Bumrungrad said in a statement it had no prior knowledge
and was “surprised” by the offer. It said the plan should
be examined by Thailand’s antitrust regulator, the Trade
Competition Commission, in the interest of consumers.
It said it would act in accordance with the law and appoint an
independent financial adviser to give an opinion on the tender
offer for shareholders.
The two hospitals compete in the same segment and are
market leaders.
BDMS already has 46 hospitals and treatment centres
in Thailand, with another one underway, and two more in
Cambodia. It owns Bangkok Hospital, which in turn operates
Bumrungrad. International patients accounted for 30 percent of
its revenue in 2019.
Bumrungrad has 580 licensed beds and capacity for over
5,500 outpatients per day. Outside Thailand, it manages
Bumrungrad Clinic Yangon in Myanmar and Ulaanbaatar
Songdo Hospital in Mongolia. It treated over 629,000
international medical tourists from over 190 countries in 2018.
GlobalHealthAndTravel.com
hailand is becoming an Asian hub for the supply of
a drug that prevents the transmission of HIV.
PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a preventive
medicine that reduces the risk of getting HIV through
sexual intercourse. It’s been shown to be almost
completely effective when taken properly.
However, PrEP is not a substitute for condoms as
it doesn’t protect against other sexually transmitted
diseases. It also requires regular blood testing for HIV
and other screening to ensure the body is reacting well
to the drug.
While effective, it’s expensive to acquire through
most Asian health services, costing up to US$400
for a month’s supply of the pills under the brand
name Truvada in places like Japan and South Korea.
The drug contains two medicines, tenofovir and
emtricitabine.
But in Thailand, a generic pill with the exact same
ingredients as Truvada and manufactured by a Thai
government agency costs as little as US$20 per 30-
day supply.
The low price and availability have prompted gay
medical tourists from other parts of Asia to travel to
Bangkok to stock up on the generic pills.
One South Korean “PrEP tourist” told The Nikkei
a trip to Thailand for a 12-month supply of pills cost
about US$1,000, including medication, airfare, and
hotel.
In South Korea, only patients under 31 and in
a relationship with an HIV-positive partner can be
prescribed subsidised Truvada through the health
system. A supply of pills for a year would otherwise
cost US$4,200. n
MAY 2020
63