Dolutegravir to be available under national health program in Brazil

ViiV Healthcare, a global specialist HIV company, today confirmed that its distributor in Brazil has finalized an agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) for the supply of Tivicay (dolutegravir).

This is the largest tender agreement to date for Tivicay and follows the MoH’s announcement on September 28 that the medicine would be made available to people living with HIV (PLHIV) who have never been on treatment as well as in third-line therapy for patients who have been on treatment previously under the national health program from January 2017 onwards.

Under the agreement, ViiV Healthcare, majority owned by GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Shionogi (TYO: 4507) as shareholders, will provide the Brazilian MoH with approximately 1.3 million packs of dolutegravir 50mg tablets in 2017, to be prescribed to around 100,000 PLHIV in Brazil, where GSK is the distributor. The MoH has now updated national treatment guidelines in Brazil to recommend dolutegravir as preferred first line therapy for treatment-naive patients, as well as third line therapy for treatment-experienced patients, and in post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).