A strawberry-flavoured generic HIV drug has been distributed in Africa for children and babies living with HIV.
The drug, which has been distributed in six African countries, is the first generic paediatric version of a key anti-retroviral.
UNITAID and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) funding procured 100,000 packs of the dolutegravir formulation across Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Benin.
Herve Verhoosel, UNITAD’s spokesman, said in a statement to Reuters: “With the recent delivery of the formulation in those six first countries, this project is now reality.”
Verhoosel said this procurement is designed to kickstart demand and that major donors have “rapidly moved to sustainable onward procurement, which will enable national scale-up and widespread access for all eligible children at an unprecedented pace”.
The treatment is recommended by the World Health Organization from the age of four weeks and three kilos, but it had been out of reach for babies because of the lack of appropriate formulations.
UNITAID and CHAI had reached a pricing agreement with the generic drugmakers Viatris and Macleods for the drug, the estimated cost for combination therapy will now be some $120 for a child’s annual treatment, against $480 currently, making it a “game-changer” for poorer countries, UNITAID said.
Around 1.8 million children worldwide live with HIV, but only half receive any treatment, often hard to administer due to the bitter taste or incorrectly dosed by crushing adult pills.
Some 100,000 children die of AIDS annually.
Verhoosel said a partnership with Medicines Patent Pool allowed for voluntary licensing agreements across 121 countries.
Lilly Subbotin
This is a syndicated feed from Pharmafile
