KENYAN HIV/AIDS PATIENTS TO GET NEW ARV DRUG

Kenya is set to receive the first shipment of a new HIV/AIDS drug that could help patients whose treatment with first-line antiretrovirals (ARVs) has failed. The international humanitarian organization Medicins Sans Frontieres is importing this initial shipment.

Abbott Laboratories manufactures the drug, Kaletra, which the U.S. FDA approved last October. In the U.S., Kaletra is available to patients at a cost of $9,000 per year. The cost in Kenya will be $500 per patient per year following price concessions by Abbott.

Kaletra is a second-line drug is used when standard ARVs stop working. Unlike other ARVs, Kaletra does not require refrigeration, which means it can easily be transported to remote outposts. Patients do not have to take as many doses of the drug as of other ARVs and do not have to take it with food.