The drug is strawberry-flavored and comes in a tablet that dissolves in water or juice to allow infants to swallow it.
Every year, about 160,000 children are infected with HIV, according to WHO figures cited by the Times. Most infections take place in Africa, and children are most often infected at birth or through breastfeeding when a mother isn’t aware she’s infected. About 80,000 toddlers and young children die of AIDS-related illnesses worldwide each year.
Children are harder to treat with HIV medications because many drugs taste bitter or come in pills that infants can’t swallow, according to the Times.
“This is truly an advance. The products currently available for pediatric treatment are less than optimal. There have been a few new formulations, but they haven’t been as successful as anticipated,” Elaine Abrams, MD, chief of pediatrics for the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs, the global health outreach arm of Columbia University’s school of public health, told the Times.
The dissolvable version of dolutegravir costs about $36 per year. It’s made by Mylan and an Indian drugmaker, Macleods Pharmaceuticals. In the U.S., Viiv Healthcare — a partnership between Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline -— patented the brand-name version of the drug, Tivicay. Viiv told the Times it is working on a syrup form of the drug for newborns.
The deal to make the drug available was brokered by the Clinton Health Access Initiative and Unitaid.
Read the full article here.
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Canada bans export of some drugs to US
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