HIV pill to save more than R2bn

THE long-awaited single antiretroviral (ARV) pill, intended to reduce the time and money the government spends on distribution, could save more than R2bn a year.

THE long-awaited single antiretroviral (ARV) pill, intended to improve compliance rates among HIV patients and to reduce the time and money the government spends on distribution, could save more than R2bn a year.

SA has the world’s largest ARV programme, with most state patients taking first-line treatment, which consists of three different tablets a day, a situation that will change with the launch of the new drug.

The single pill was launched by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi yesterday. “We believe that the roll-out of the fixed-dose combination will assist a great deal in the management and treatment of HIV,” he said.

The launch follows the cancellation of a contract that prevented the distribution of one of the world’s cheapest three-in-one ARV pills in October last year.

The AIDS drugs tender, which was initially valued at R8.9bn, has now been trimmed to R5.9bn.

“So this means that this new tender has moved from an original cost of R8.1bn to R5.9bn for two years. This saving means we can treat more patients with the same budget,” Dr Motsoaledi said.

He said the new pill combines tenofovir, emtricitabine and efavirenz, and will cost R89.37 per patient per month, as opposed to the current R150, making it the lowest price globally.

“The current phase is not for everyone. We’ll start with over 180,000 patients including pregnant women and those who are breastfeeding; they will switch over to the new drug,” Dr Motsoaledi said.

From June,

“non-compli- cated” patients would be switched to the fixed-dose combination permanently. He said the combined pill was expected to reduce the likelihood of patients skipping doses, and save the state time and money in distributing the medication.

Aspen Pharmacare’s head of strategy, Stavros Nicolaou, whose company is the only supplier manufacturing the drug locally, said: “HIV is a complicated virus; with this tablet the benefits are immense. It will give better compliance and reduce stigma”.

Analyst Jean-Pierre-Verster of 36One Asset Management said this was a welcome development as it gave competitive advantage to manufacturers on the supply of the HIV treatment.

The drug was also said to have fewer side effects.

Dr Motsoaledi said more than 7,000 doctors and nurses had been updated on the new guidelines, and 389,857 units of the fixed-dose combination had been supplied to the various provinces for the patients who would receive the medication in the first phase.

The South African National AIDS Council (Sanac) welcomed the change in treatment to just one tablet a day, saying the fixeddose combination would make taking HIV/AIDS treatment “convenient”. “We hope that it will result in patients complying with and adhering to their treatment,” Sanac CEO Fareed Abdullah said.

“We hope that this will enable many more patients to take their medication everywhere and anywhere they may be.”

Sanac said it hoped the new treatment would encourage people to stay on their treatment and thus reduce noncompliance.