May 14, 2007. Copyright, 2004, Graphic News. All rights reserved

One-pill-per-day HIV treatment

LONDON, May 18, Graphic News: A deal with two drug companies to lower the price of anti-retroviral treatment (ARV) for HIV/AIDS offers hope for millions of people in the developing world.

The deal, brokered by the Clinton Foundation and reached in partnership with international drug purchase facility UNITAID and Indian-based generic manufacturers Cipla and Matrix, will provide more than US$100 million to buy so-called Òsecond-lineÓ ARV medicines -- to counter HIV drug resistance to initial treatment -- for 27 developing nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition to reduced prices for second-line medicines, Cipla has produced a Ògold-standardÓ first-line medicine -- a pill combining the drugs tenofovir, emtricitabine and efavirenz that needs to be taken just once a day -- available for $339 a year, or less than $1 a day.

U.S.-based biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences has also announced it will launch one dollar a day generic versions of its HIV/AIDS drug ÒVireadÓ in the next 3-6 months through its Indian partners.

Anti-retroviral drug therapy is the main type of treatment for HIV. It is not a cure, but it can stop people from becoming ill for many years. The treatment consists of a combination of drugs that have to be taken every day for the rest of a patientÕs life.

Therapy requires at least two and preferably three drugs to be taken at the same time, several times a day. The reason for this is that if you only take one drug, it will just be a short time before HIV becomes resistant to the medication. It generally takes longer before the virus becomes resistant to a second-line combination of several drugs together.

World Bank figures show that the annual cost for a patient receiving triple-combination ARV therapy, including the cost of the drugs, outpatient visits, blood cell counts and viral load tests ranges from $8,700 to $13,900, with the drugs constituting between 58 percent and 77 percent of total annual costs per patient.

Brazil led the way in the late 1990s by producing affordable generic ARV drugs in its own factories, available free to all 140,000 HIV-positive citizens. By daring to break the monopoly of the multinational pharmaceutical companiesÕ patents, the country dropped the average cost of a yearÕs therapy from around $10,000 to less than $600. Competition among Indian generic manufacturers has now pushed the average price of ARV therapy to less than $350 per year, and the Thai government has also invoked compulsory licensing to get around drug patents.

Twenty-five years after HIV/AIDS was first identified, 39.5 million people are living with the virus, most in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. According to UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, just 1.65 million people received ARV therapy in 2006.
/ENDS