MSF: WHO sticks head in sand over high cost of newer AIDS drugs
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For Immediate Release:
WHO sticks head in sand over high cost of newer AIDS drugs
Must act to ensure long-term quality care for people with HIV/AIDS
TORONTO, 14 August 2006 – After nearly six years of providing
antiretroviral treatment in developing countries, the international medical
humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) expressed dismay
at the political complacency surrounding the need to ensure that newer AIDS
medicines are accessible for people living with HIV/AIDS in developing
countries.
Data released by MSF at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto
clearly show how the high price of newer medicines is driving the cost of
treatment up and threatening the sustainability of treatment programmes:
- in the MSF-supported programme in Khayelitsha, South Africa, 10% of
patients at 3 years and 16% at 4 years need to switch to second-line; however, second-line treatment is five times more expensive than first-line.
- in Nigeria 8% of patients on treatment for 18 months need second-line, which costs over seven times more than first line ($US 200 vs $US 1,473).
- in Guatemala, a second-line regimen costs US$6500 - 28 times more than the first-line.
The World Health Organization's latest antiretroviral treatment guidelines
for resource-poor settings released at the Toronto Conference recommend
newer generation ARVs for both first- and second-line therapy. Because of
patent issues, many of these drugs are not available from generic
manufacturers. As a result, originator companies are able to charge
prohibitively high prices and are often slow to make the drugs available in
developing countries.
'We applaud the fact that WHO has expanded the drug formulary to include
newer drugs into their guidelines. However, no mechanism exists to make
those drugs available at a country level.' said Dr Alexandra Calmy of MSF's
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. 'It is the responsibility of
WHO to encourage governments to use the flexibilities in the WTO TRIPS
Agreement, including issuing compulsory licenses to access generic drugs.
Other actors, including the Global Fund and UNAIDS must also get serious
about the fact that we're facing a potentially major crisis unless they act
now to bring down the cost of treatment.'
Generic competition has been a major engine driving down the price of first
line drugs from over $US 10,000 per patient per year to under $US 140.
Today, 50% of people in the developing world on ARVs rely on generic
medicines from India. However, now that countries like India have to grant
patents on medicines, sources of generic medicines are at risk of drying
up.
Ensuring affordability of newer medicines is the only way to ensure
long-term quality care for people with HIV/AIDS in the developing world. 'I
would not be alive today if I could not access second-line medicines,' says
Ibrahim Umoru, a peer educator working for MSF in Lagos, Nigeria, who had
to switch treatment in 2006 after having developed resistance to
first-line. 'I am in the very lucky minority. Most patients whose lives had
been saved by first-line treatment will be abandoned the moment they need
second-line drugs unless governments pull their heads out of the sand and
start tackling this issue.'
Contact: Sheila Shettle +1.416.455.7916 or Lorna Chiu +1.416.892.1496
MSF provides antiretroviral treatment to more than 60,000 patients in 32 countries.
MSF Briefing Document for the XVI International AIDS Conference
TOO LITTLE FOR TOO FEW: Challenges for effective and accessible antiretroviral therapy
- available at www.accessmed-msf.org and
www.msf.ca/aids2006