Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - March 15, 2006
Drugs not widely available: Major drug companies are still not making life-saving drugs available to millions of people with HIV/Aids in the developing world, according to the charity Medicins sans Frontieres (MSF).
Basic three-drug cocktails in a single pill are slowly being rolled out to some who need them, but doctors fear many of those people will die within a few years if they cannot get hold of alternative drugs that are widely available in Western countries.
In Khayelitsha, Cape Town, where MSF started the treatment of poor people in South Africa, some have now been on a basic drug cocktail for four years. Long before that, however, resistance builds up -- the virus in the body mutates to overcome the effects of the drug and the patient becomes sick again. In one of MSF's programmes, 16% of patients now need what is known as "second line" drugs.
But MSF says some of the drugs they need are not available in Africa because manufacturing companies have not registered them here. Until a drug is registered, it cannot be approved by government authorities for use in that country.
In South Africa and Zimbabwe, where treatment programmes have been in place for several years, there is a critical and growing need for the drug Tenofovir. A manufacturer, Gilead, promised in December 2002 it would offer the drug at a reduced price in 68 developing countries and last March extended the list to a further 97. But the company has not registered the drug where it is needed, says Nathan Ford of MSF.
"Companies gain good publicity for announcing discounts for the developing world, but their intentions have to be backed up by a proper commitment to actually make the drugs available," writes Ford.
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