Groundbreaking deal will lower cost of paediatric HIV treatment
‘ Forgotten ’ patients stand to see better outcomes from newly approved drug
Astrawberry-flavoured HIV treatment costing a fraction of the regular price will enable the youngest children in low- and middle-income countries to be treated for the disease .
An agreement between the global health initiative Unitaid and the Clinton Health Access Initiative will supply a new dispersible formulation of the recommended first-line HIV treatment dolutegravir for US $ 36 per year , reduced from around US $ 400 .
The announcement comes after the US Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) gave tentative approval for the first generic paediatric dispersible dolutegravir product from drug manufacturer Viatris .
This is the first time a generic product has been positively reviewed within several months of the originator product receiving FDA approval , reducing the gap from three years for the adult version of the same medicine to just five months . The approach taken could drastically reduce the time it takes for new paediatric medications to reach children in poorer countries .
“ Children in low- and middle-income countries often wait years to access the same medications as adults , hindering their quality of life , or even resulting in preventable deaths ,” said Unitaid ’ s Executive Director Philippe Duneton on announcing the initiative .
The product will initially be available in Benin , Kenya , Malawi , Nigeria , Uganda , and Zimbabwe in the first half of this year , with plans for rapid scale-up with a 10mg dolutegravir formulation across a broad set of countries .
Mûtahi Kagwe , Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Health in Kenya , marked the announcement by saying : “ This marks a dramatic shift for the quality of HIV treatment for children . Kenya intends to be a firstadopter of the new paediatric 10mg formulation , which will improve treatment , reduce unpleasant side effects and help children to adhere to their treatment and live healthy lives .”
Paediatric HIV patients are an often forgotten group of patients with the disease , according to Dr Ariffin Mustafa , an HIV research fellow at the University of Malaya . This is especially the case in countries with underdeveloped and underfunded health systems .
Some 1.7 million children around the world live with HIV , but only half of them receive treatment and 100,000 die every year . For many , the HIV virus cannot be suppressed due in part to the lack of effective drugs that are palatable and properly adapted for them .
“ Many children in poor countries have to wait until adulthood before they can get access to the right drugs , which means they may struggle with poor health as they grow up . It doesn ’ t help that quite often they are orphans ,” Dr Ariffin told Global Health Asia-Pacific . “ Even those who do have access to drugs may not receive the correct doses , which could lead to a poor response to their treatment .”
GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com APRIL 2021
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