In a development that would enable better and more affordable treatment for HIV/AIDS patients on second-line antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in the developing world, the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), Mylan Inc and Hyderabad-based Matrix Laboratories have signed an agreement to offer a once-daily dose of the second-line regimen of four ARVs for under $500 (nearly Rs 24,000) per patient per year.
According to former US President Bill Clinton, Mylan chairman and CEO Robert J Coury, and Matrix Laboratories founder and vice chairman N Prasad, who signed the agreement in New York on Friday, Atazanavir (ATV), Ritonavir (RTV), Tenofovir (TDF) and Lamivudine (3TC) will be available in three pills, with Tenofovir and Lamivudine combined into a single pill. All the four drugs are needed to enable once-daily treatment of patients who have developed resistance to standard first-line ARVs.
The three pills are being made available today as separate products with a total price of $475 per patient a year. Matrix will also sell the pills together in one package — a “second-line-in-a-box” — at $425 annually, starting in 2010. This will be 28 per cent lower than the current lowest-priced alternative available in the market, they stated in a press release. 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.
The new Matrix product announced today will create a more convenient second-line ARV treatment option. Patients will take three pills once a day instead of five or more pills twice a day (i.e. at least two in the morning and at least three in the evening) as required by alternative regimens. Additionally, the products will include the first-ever heat-stable version of Ritonavir, which does not require continuous refrigeration for its transport and distribution, the release stated.
“Ensuring sustainable access to effective treatments in the developing world is a critical element in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Mylan and Matrix are proud to continue our commitment of creating and introducing innovative and affordable pharmaceutical solutions. This includes our ‘second-line-in-a-box,’ which will reduce patient pill burden and facilitate patient compliance. Our affordable, heat-stable version of Ritonavir also represents another advance in the development of products that can withstand environmental conditions in parts of the world where treatment is desperately needed,” said Mylan chairman and CEO, Coury.
“Enhancing the standards of care in the developing world is a top priority for Mylan and Matrix. Together, we have done an extraordinary job in developing a world-class ARV franchise in only a few years. Our efforts will continue, along with other remarkable partner organisations such as CHAI,” Prasad added.
The new products and prices, the press release stated, would enable cumulative cost savings of $400 million (about Rs 2,000 crore) over the next five years, when compared with recent prices paid for alternative regimens. There were between 200,000 and 250,000 second-line patients across the developing world at the end of 2008. This number is expected to double over the next three years.
