You can fight off HIV/AIDS better from now on
Presence of any HIV/AIDS affected patient in any family is really unfortunate but if the situation prevails in your family, you can have a sigh of relief from now on. The costs of drug to contend with HIV/AIDS will plummet in the coming days owing to the introduction of a new, second line regimen under the aegis of Matrix Labs and the Clinton Foundation.
It has come to the knowledge that the cost-effective once-daily HIV/AIDS treatment regimen of four ARVs (anti-retrovirals) will be available for under $500 annually and the decisive agencies in this regard, Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), Mylan Inc., and the Hyderabad-based Matrix Laboratories, a global producer of ARVs, have already signed an agreement for this.
Speaking on the agreement and also the future course of action, Mylan Chairman and CEO, Robert J. Coury, and Matrix Laboratories Founder and Vice-Chairman, N. Prasad along with erstwhile US President, Bill Clinton, said, Atazanavir (ATV), Ritonavir (RTV), Tenofovir (TDF), and Lamivudine (3TC) would be available in three pills, with Tenofovir and Lamivudine combined into one. It should be noted that these four drugs are essential in order to enable the once-daily treatment of patients who have developed resistance to standard first-line ARVs.
As per companies, the three pills are being made available as separate products at a total price of less than $475/patient a year and from the year 2010, Matrix will also sell the pills together in one package - a 'second-line-in-a-box' - at $425 annually. The concept is good since in that case there shall be a considerable reduction of prices.
These new products and prices will be available to governments that are members of the Clinton Foundation's Procurement Consortium across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, a press release said.
The new Matrix product announced today will create a more convenient second-line ARV treatment option as patients will have to take three pills once-a-day instead of five or more pills twice-a-day.
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