Protesters seek cheaper drugs at HIV/AIDS meeting (AEGiS) - Protesters seek cheaper drugs at HIV/AIDS meeting
Reuters NewMedia - August 12, 2009 Tan Ee Lyn
http://www.aegis.org/news/re/2009/RE090814.html

BALI, Indonesia, Aug 12 (Reuters) - A small band of protesters holding aloft a banner disrupted a large HIV/AIDS conference in Indonesia on Wednesday to demand access to drugs to treat HIV patients dying from Hepatitis C.
The World Health Organisation says 4-5 million people living with HIV/AIDS around the world are also infected with hepatitis C, a disease that can cause liver failure.
"Hepatitis C + silence = death," read the banner carried by protesters accusing pharmaceutical giant Roche AG <ROG.VX> of setting the price of a drug to fight Hepatitis C virus (HCV) too high for dying patients to afford.
Protesters said pegylated interferon, a drug marketed by Roche and intended to flush out the virus, costs $1,500 a month.
"Shame on you Roche, shame on you!" they chanted.
Roche was not immediately available for comment.
Most people infected with both HIV and Hepatitis C are injecting drug users. Both diseases are blood borne and transmission is through the sharing of used needles and other equipment, even cotton swabs.
Although international health agencies and governments have sought to make HIV drugs available to sufferers, high costs limit access to treatment for hepatitis C in most countries.
According to the WHO, injecting drug users are excluded from treatment in many countries due to fears of the interaction between drugs and the likelihood of reinfection.
But Nanao Haobam, who is infected with both viruses, said such an approach was untenable as patients were dying.
"In my community back home, I have seen more than 50 (HIV positive) people die because of HCV. There must be many more than that," he said.
Haobam, 38, is a former injecting drug user and now an HIV/AIDS activist in Bangkok. He told Reuters he learned he was HIV positive in 2000 and was diagnosed with HCV two years later.
"I was on treatment, but that didn't get rid of all the HCV. I recently saw a doctor and he advised me to start treatment for hepatitis as I am now in the initial stage of cirrhosis," he said.
"But I just can't afford it, I have to leave this matter in the mercy of God."
Failure to treat cirrhosis, the hardening of the liver, will lead to a patient requiring a transplant or dying.
The prevalence of chronic HCV infection among patients with HIV in western Europe and the United States is estimated at 25 to 30 percent. In Asia, 80 to 90 percent of injecting drug users who are HIV positive are co-infected with HCV.
Co-infection rates average over 40 percent in eastern Europe and extend to 70 to 95 percent in Estonia, Russia and Ukraine.
"If governments can't make the drug available, the least they can do is to get rid of the patent, so that generic versions can be made," Haobam said.
090812 RE090814

Copyright ? 2009 - Reuters, Ltd. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.   Contact Reuters.
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from the National Library of Medicine, AIDS Walk of Orange County, and donations from users like you.
Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2009. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ?1980, 2009. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. [AEGiS]