Yahoo – AFP,
June 28, 2017
A nurse takes a blood sample on March 8, 2011 in a mobile clinic set up to test students for HIV at Madwaleni high school near Mtubatuba in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa (AFP Photo/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN) |
Nairobi
(AFP) - The generic version of the most advanced drug against HIV has been
introduced in Kenya, a first in Africa where more than 25 million have the
disease, the NGO Unitaid said Wednesday.
The drug,
Dolutegravir (DTG) is the anti-retroviral drug of choice for those living with
HIV in developed countries, but its high price has put it out of reach for most
struggling with the disease in Africa.
"The
generic DTG has two advantages: on the one hand, it is very good from a
pharmaceutical point of view. On the other hand, it is much cheaper," said
Robert Matiru of Unitaid, which works to reduce the costs of medicines treating
AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria.
He
described the drug as "the most effective HIV treatment currently on the
market."
A box of 30
pills of DTG, which lasts a month, costs between $25 (21 euros) and $50. The
generic version only costs $4.
Kenya has
already started rolling out the new drug, which will initially be provided for
free to 27,000 people living with HIV who are intolerant to the side effects of
the current best drug used in the country.
It will
become available nationwide later in the year, and will also be rolled out in
Nigeria and Uganda.
The drug is
easier to take than those currently on the market, requiring only one pill a
day, causing fewer side effects, and patients are less likely to develop
resistance, said Matiru.
Around 37
million people live with HIV/AIDS around the world, 70 percent of them in
Africa, according to 2015 statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
No comments:
Post a Comment