Decision to improve access to HIV drug welcomed
The New Zealand AIDS Foundation welcomes Pharmac’s decision to give full access to the anti-HIV treatment, Kaletra. This
will ensure those recently diagnosed with HIV, as well as those who have been living with the virus for many years, have
access to a very effective anti-retroviral treatment.
NZAF Positive Health Manager Eamonn Smythe says it is good news for people newly diagnosed with HIV infection because,
previously, Kaletra was not approved as a “first stage” treatment in spite of overseas experience suggesting it was an
excellent drug for combating HIV in its early stages.
The news that Pharmac will also extend availability of anti-HIV treatments to help prevent pregnant HIV-positive women
passing on the virus to their child is also welcomed by the Foundation. However it says the benefits of this will be
limited unless there is also a nationally available HIV screening programme for pregnant women to ensure no-one misses
out on an opportunity to protect their child.
Eamonn Smythe says that while the Pharmac announcement is good news, the Foundation is concerned at the length of time
that it has taken for Kaletra to become fully available.
“It’s a process that has taken three years from after Kaletra was first registered in this country. In that time some
people have died and others have needlessly spent time in hospital needing extensive, and expensive, care. If these
drugs were available earlier, their recipients could have continued to be working, paying taxes, caring for their
families and contributing to their communities. The delays caused a huge cost on our health care and a huge burden to
positive people and their families that we would not want to see repeated.
“Pharmac’s processes for approving new drugs must be speeded up. The foundation is concerned that, in the case of
Kaletra, unnecessary costs were passed on to hospitals when people waiting for the drug to become available ended up
spending a long time in intensive care.”
ENDS