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Policy prevents Naco from ordering drug
(Times of India, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan. 25--PUNE, India -- It's been over ten months since the Pune-based Emcure Pharmaceuticals rolled out the world's first cocktail of three drugs -- Emtri Suspension -- for the HIV-infected paediatric population.
However, the National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) has not been able to place orders for the drug as a change in the existing policy is required.
While Naco's additional project director, Dr N.S. Dharamshaktu, was not available for comment despite repeated attempts by TOI, another senior official said that without a change in the policy on purchase order for new drugs, no orders could be placed.
Naco is the nodal agency which procures anti-retrovirals (ARVS) in bulk and distributes it to HIV/AIDS patients through government oraganisations in the country.
Named as Emtri Suspension, the three-drug cocktail -- Lamivudine, Stavudine and Nevirapine -- is already being exported to African countries like Kenya and Tanzania.
A few state AIDS control societies, including Maharashtra, have placed orders for the paediatric formulation. Director (operations) of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, A.K. Khanna, when contacted, confirmed his company was yet to receive any orders from Naco.
According to a report published by UNAIDS, India had 55,000 children infected with the virus till December 2004. Private agencies involved in the care and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients said the government's lack of response was unfortunate.
"With the rate of paediatric HIV infection in the country as high as 15 to 20 per cent (some African nations also have a similar prevalence rate), compared to 2 per cent in the developed countries, it is only foolhardy not to make this drug available to the needy," said Subhashree Raghavan, founder and executive trustee, Saathi (Solidarity and action against the HIV infection in India).
A member of the Network of Positive People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+) regretted the delay in making Emtri Suspension easily available to the infected paediatric population.
"Till recently, there wasn't any paediatric formulation, and now when we have one, no steps are being taken to make it readily available," the member said.
City-based expert Sanjay Pujari had earlier told TOI that there were fewer options to treat HIV/AIDS-infected children. "The drugs available in the market are mostly capsules and hard-tomeasure syrups meant for adults.
Therefore, it is difficult to administer it to children," he said, explaining that the absence of standardised dosing schedules for children was another hurdle, adding to the medical complications.
According to Khanna, the combination drug is priced at about Rs 500 per month for therapy in the Indian market. "Even before the launch, we never expected it to be a blockbuster product (both in terms of volumes and profit)," he said, however, adding that it may take some more time before Naco places an order with it.
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