A number of African countries will soon be able to provide the new single-pill HIV treatment regimen thanks to a breakthrough pricing agreement announced last evening.
The pricing partnership was struck between the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), African governments, the pharmaceutical industry, and the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) to drastically reduce the price of a crucial HIV/Aids treatment drug.
The agreement will accelerate the availability of the first new generic version of a frontline antiretroviral drug containing dolutegravir (DTG) to public sector purchasers in low- and middle-income countries at around USD 75 (268,565 Shillings) per person, per year. The treatment cost was previously above USD 1,000 (3,580,860 Shillings).
Prior to the introduction of the new affordable regimen, patients paid USD 50 (179,000 Shillings) – USD 60 (215,000 Shillings) for a 30-day supply pack. This generic version costs about USD 4 (14,000 Shillings) a pack.
This one pill, a once-a-day generic fixed-dose combination of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine, and dolutegravir (TLD) was developed by Mylan and Aurobindo under licensing agreements from ViiV Healthcare, the original developer of DTG. The company recently received tentative approval for their products under the United States PEPFAR program.
The new agreement is now expected to accelerate treatment rollout as part of global efforts to reach all 36.7 million people living with HIV with high-quality antiretroviral therapy. UNAIDS estimates that in 2016, just over half (19.5 million) of all people living with HIV had access to the lifesaving medicines.
URN
