Access denied to crucial new hiv/aids medicines: INP+

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Access denied to crucial new hiv/aids medicines: INP+

The Imphal Free Press/KanglaOnline, India - 29 Nov 2006

New Delhi, Dec 29: Over 200 persons living with HIV gathered in the capital

today to start off a three day dharna at Jantar Mantar to demand that the

Government of India provide new AIDS drugs (second line treatment) to those who

need it. The dharna is being organized by the Indian Network for People living

with HIV/AIDS (INP+) and the Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) and will

culminate in a mass rally at Jantar Mantar on the 1st of December World AIDS

Day.

" Under the government programme people living with HIV/AIDS in India cannot get

new or improved drugs that can make a critical difference in saving our lives " ,

says Loon Gangte, President of DNP +.

According to medical experts patients need to be switched to a newer

`second-line` drug regimens after a few years when resistance/toxicity

naturally develops to their first set of medications. The World Health

Organization (WHO) in August 2006 updated its anti-retroviral guidelines for

HIV/AIDS treatment in developing countries and recommends newer AIDS drugs like

tenofovir (TDF), lopinavir/ritonavir for first and second-line regimens.

" It`s a cruel irony that although Indian pharmaceutical companies are

producing new AIDS drugs like Tenofovir and Lopinavir/Ritonavir recommended by

the WHO, these drugs are being exported but are not being made available in

government treatment centres here. " says Elango Ramachandar President of INP+.

There are approximately 44,000 people receiving anti-retroviral treatment (ART)

from the government. Government of India started implementing its free AIDS

treatment programme in 2004 and now has several patients who are in urgent need

of the newer `second-line` drugs, says K.K. Abraham of INP+. He added, " patients

who need second line treatment are experiencing a drastic decrease in their CD4

counts, an increase in the viral load in the bodies and continuous weight loss.

If the government does not act soon, it will be too late for many of us. "

" For many of us, if we cannot access second line ARV drugs now, many of us will

not be there to witness the next World AIDS Day, " said Umashankar Pandey who has

come from Kachh in Gujarat to take part in the Dharna at Jantar Mantar. 20

people living with HIV/AIDS from various states who are now in critical need of

the newer second line AIDS drugs will sit on the dharna against the resistance

and refusal of the National AIDS Control Organisation to provide the newer AIDS

drugs.

The Government has often used the excuse of the cost of second line AIDS drugs

to rebuff demands for its free provision through the ARV rollout programme.

Networks of HIV-positive persons find this argument unacceptable.

" We have taken on legal battles against patent applications by big pharma on

these drugs to make sure that newer AIDS drugs are not patented and continue to

be affordable and accessible for the common person, but what has the government

done to make sure people can get these drugs? " asks Loon Gangte, from the DNP+.

The dharna was inaugurated by Dr. Karan Singh Yadav, Member of Parliament and

Vice Chairperson of the Indian Medical Parliamentarians Forum and was addressed

by S. Sudhakar Reddy (Member of Parliament), Elango Ramachandar of INP+, Loon

Gangte of DNP+ as well as other PLHA leaders, activists and social workers

representing various organizations.

The Imphal Free Press

http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline & newsid=35103 & typeid=1

____________________________

Leena Menghaney

Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines

Medecins Sans Frontieres - Holland (in India)

Tel: 9811365412, +91 11 24337225, + 91 1151552413

Fax: +91 11 24336834

E-mail: msfh-india-medco-assist@...