Nevirapine Safety Study Results Welcomed by Africa

Researchers and health agencies in Sub-Saharan Africa have welcomed the results of a review, released last week, that apparently confirms the safety and efficacy of HIV/AIDS drug nevirapine. The product is distributed in African pandemic areas by Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim under the Viramune brand.

The review was commissioned by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and carried out by the US Institute of Medicine. It broadly upholds the findings of a controversial trial conducted by the NIH in Uganda in 1997. This latest survey supports earlier studies carried out in the wake of controversy over the drug in South Africa, Malawi and Thailand.

The Institute of Medicine's findings, however, note that the Ugandan survey was "not perfect," highlighting some unrecorded non-fatal side effects and insufficient evidence of consent from trial participants, but it is hoped that the study will now see an end to the controversy.

The drug has long been well-placed to stem mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission rates in South Africa. Nevirapine has been widely available in the country for roughly eight years, and its low cost (at some US$4 per dose), as well as its reported ability to halve child infection rates in the first 14-16 weeks of life, is likely to benefit the country's expanding HIV/AIDS drug provision programmes.