The cost of HIV/AIDS medicine is expected to drop by 30 per cent in Kenya, enabling more people to access life-prolonging drugs, after WHO gave the green light to a local company manufacturing generics
NAIROBI (AlertNet) – The cost of HIV/AIDS medicine is expected to drop by 30 per cent in Kenya, enabling more people to access life-prolonging drugs, after the World Health Organization (WHO) gave the green light to a local company manufacturing generics, The Star newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Universal Corporation’s antiretroviral (ARV) drug, Lamozido, was included in a list of approved medicines published by the WHO last Friday, the report said.
This recognition, known as prequalification, will enable the company to bid for international tenders to supply drugs to governments and non-governmental organisations, who in turn give them to people living with HIV/AIDS.
The most important of these is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is the largest multilateral donor to the HIV/AIDS response in developing countries.
Universal Corporation is also seeking to have a children’s version of the drug approved, the report said.
Kenya has a shortage of ARVs, according to Kenya's minister for public health and sanitation, Beth Mugo.
Only two-thirds of the 600,000 Kenyans who need ARVs are taking them, the newspaper said.
Kenya becomes the fourth African country to manufacture ARVs.
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