New antiretrovirals tender in South Africa halves drug prices

South Africa's newly-announced tender for antiretrovirals (ARVs) has halved the price the government will pay for the life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs; however, fixed dose combinations, which would decrease the pill burden, are still largely absent from the deal, reports IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

With estimated savings of about $685 million from end-January, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the program could now afford to treat twice as many HIV-positive patients as before. Few fixed-dose combinations have been included in the new tender, however, due to continued registration delays with the Medicines Control Council (MCC).

As part of a campaign to test 15 million South Africans for HIV by April 2011, at least 4.8 million people had been tested as of June 2010. More than 900,000 people were diagnosed HIV-positive as a result; Mr Motsoaledi said he hoped the savings earned through the new drug tender would help these new HIV patients. South Africa has an HIV prevalence rate of about 18%, and is estimated to have the world's largest ARV program. In a budget speech made earlier this year, Mr Motsoaledi stated that, despite the country's huge economies of scale in ARV procurement, it still paid significantly higher prices for its ARVs than other countries.