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Why are newer AIDS drugs unavailable?
Beyond being priced out of reach, most newer AIDS drugs are not available in developing countries. This is because many companies do not prioritize registering their new products in developing countries, despite the fact that the needs there are enormous. People in developing countries do not represent an attractive enough market for them to make the medicines they produce available there immediately.
This leads to the fact that it routinely takes several years for newer drugs that have been available to people living with AIDS in wealthy countries to reach their counterparts in the developing world. As an example, the drug tenofovir, which is manufactured by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, was registered for use in the US in 2001. Despite claims by the company that it was trying to increase access to the drug for patients, in 125 countries included in the Gilead Access Program, only 39 countries have Tenofovir registered. This increases the difficulty in accessing the drug for use in some of MSF’s projects.
Another drug crucial for use in second-line therapy, lopinavir/ritonavir became available in the US in 2005 in a new version that no longer required refrigeration, as the old version did. However, its producer, US pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories, was dragging its feet in making it available in developing countries, where tropical climates would make access to the drug’s new version particularly vital. MSF struggled to obtain some of the drug for use in several of its projects in 2006, but only succeeded after months of lengthy negotiations with the company
Such delays in registration can mean the difference between life and death to people living with AIDS. MSF has been keeping up the pressure on companies to rapidly register their newer AIDS drugs in developing countries, so that people living with HIV/AIDS can access the medicines they need when they need them.
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