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ACCESS DENIED TO CRUCIAL NEW HIV/AIDS DRUGS People living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries can’t get new and/or improved drugs that can make a critical difference, says the medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF said that it refuses to accept the standard practice of drug companies marketing less adapted drugs to African, Asian and Latin American countries while reserving improved or newly developed drugs for countries that can pay more. For this reason MSF is placing an order directly with the worldwide headquarters of Abbott Laboratories in Chicago for a new heat stable version of the drug called lopinavir/ritonavir, which the company right now only sells in the US at a price of US$9,687 (average wholesale price).
“With temperatures up to 40C today, and the numerous daily electrical
blackouts, our patients can’t use the old version of this drug,”
said Dr. Helen Bygrave, who works at MSF’s AIDS treatment program
in Lagos, Nigeria. “It’s a cruel irony that although this
drug with no need for refrigeration seems to have been designed for places
like Nigeria, it is not available here.” The drug lopinavir/ritonavir is a crucial component of antiretroviral therapy for patients who need to be switched to a newer ‘second-line’ treatment regimen when drug resistance naturally develops after a few years on their first set of medications. At MSF’s program in Khayelitsha, South Africa, 16% of the patients needed a new regimen after four years of treatment. Such data underlines the acute and growing need for newer drugs. With over 60,000 patients on antiretroviral treatment, MSF says its efforts to treat some patients who need access to newer drugs are being thwarted by drug company policies and their “go slow” approach to making these new drugs available in developing countries. Ibrahim Umoru, who receives treatment at the Lagos clinic, has been taking the old version of LPV/r for two weeks but his drugs need to be refrigerated at a clinic far from his home. “I can’t afford a refrigerator and without a refrigerator, these temperatures turn the capsules into clumps that look like used chewing gum. I need the newer version.” Because Abbott is not making the drug available in developing countries, MSF today placed an order for several projects in Africa and Asia. Armed with evidence from industry experts that the new formulation is less expensive to make than the old one, MSF also demanded the lowest possible price that would be no more than the amount Abbott charges some developing countries for the old version. In a letter to the CEO of Abbott, prominent doctors/researchers and AIDS organisations from around the world urged Abbott to make new lopinavir/ritonavir available “immediately” to patients in developing countries. Abbott has been marketing this drug as Kaletra since 2000 – but the old version is a soft-gel capsule, which means more pills per day, meal restrictions, and need for refrigeration in hot climates. *** For interviews contact Lex Hall at MSF Australia on 1300 136 061 ***
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