Company announces AIDS drug flavored with strawberry for kids

About 80,000 babies and toddlers die of AIDS each year, mostly in Africa, in part because their medicines come in hard pills or bitter syrups that are very difficult for small children to swallow or keep down.

But on Friday, the Indian generic drug manufacturer, Cipla, announced a new, more palatable pediatric formulation. The new drug, called Quadrimune, comes in strawberry-flavored granules the size of grains of sugar that can be mixed with milk or sprinkled on baby cereal. Experts said it could save the lives of thousands of children each year.

“This is excellent news for all children living with HIV,” said Winnie Byanyima, the new executive director of UNAIDS, the United Nations agency in charge of the fight against the disease. “We have been eagerly waiting for child-friendly medicines that are easy to use and good to taste.”

Cipla revolutionized the provision of AIDS drugs for adults almost two decades ago, pricing them at $1 a day.

The new pediatric formulation will likewise be priced at $1 a day.

The announcement by Cipla and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, an offshoot of Doctors Without Borders that supported the development of the drug, was timed to coincide with World AIDS Day, which is Sunday.

Despite advances in the prevention of mother-child transmission of HIV, about 160,000 children are born infected each year, according to UNAIDS, mostly in the poorest towns and villages of Africa. Almost half of them die before age 2, usually because they have no access to drugs or cannot tolerate them.

Quadrimune is still under review by the Food and Drug Administration, and FDA approval almost inevitably leads to rapid certification by the World Health Organization. The company hopes to get a decision by May.

“This is excellent news for all children living with HIV.”

— Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS