Uganda to make new low cost HIV/AIDS drug

Uganda will starting next month produce a new low cost and more effective life saving HIV/AIDS drug, local media reported here on Wednesday.According to the state-owned New Vision daily the new anti- retroviral (ARV) drug, Tenofovir, will be manufactured by local company Quality Chemicals Pharmaceutical Company.Tenofovir is said to be more effective than the current drug combinations in lowering the ability of HIV to multiply and infect new cells in the body.A monthly dose of the drug will cost 20 U.S. dollars compared to 600 dollars for the same drug in Europe, the paper reported.Patients need only to take one pill once a day, as opposed to several drugs at time.\"One pill a day is recommended as opposed to two pills used in the first line of treatment,\" said Samuel Opio, a pharmacist at Quality Chemicals Pharmaceutical Company.Government health centers are expected to start receiving the new drug next year, in a move that will partly improve compliance to ARVs.According to National Medical Stores, a state owned agency charged with distribution of drugs across the country, over the last six months about 50,000 more people have started on ARVs due to the consistency in drug supply by Quality Chemicals.The cost of buying ARVs from the plant has also slightly reduced from 2.4 dollars per dose when it started production to 1. 9 dollars.Statistics by the Uganda AIDS Commission indicate that out of the 540,000 Ugandans who are in dire need of ARVs, only 218,000 are receiving the treatment.The East African country records over 120,000 new HIV infections annually and has about 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS.