Russia: HIV Policy Change Lambasted

On Nov. 21, Russia's Health and Social Development Ministry surreptitiously decreed first-line HIV drugs would be bypassed for third-and fourth-line AIDS drugs, AIDS activists and federal officials allege. The Community of People Living with HIV said the decree would jeopardize HIV patients' lives. The more expensive alternate therapies are intended for patients who have been HIV-positive for years and have become resistant to first-line drugs.

The decree was issued quietly after AIDS activists and the Federal AIDS Center (FAC) worked together for months on a planned list of treatments, said Vadim Pokrovsky. "I didn't even find out about it until three weeks after it was issued," said Russia's top AIDS official. "We worked closely with them on standards approved in August. It was clear that a bureaucrat with no understanding of medical treatment for people with HIV and AIDS issued this decree."

The decree would procure Prezista (darunavir), a protease inhibitor produced in Russia by Makiz-Pharma, for about 3,000 patients next year. It was not on the original list of treatments, as AIDS experts consider it too expensive and unsuitable for Russia's AIDS patients.

Mikhail Grishankov, head of the Duma's anti-corruption committee, told the news outlet Kommersant he believes the decree was issued "in the interest of specific companies." He declined to elaborate but promises an investigation.

Makiz-Pharma spokesperson Yury Boryan said he was unaware of any forthcoming government contracts. However, he said his company would "battle in a civilized fashion, and not like cave-dwellers, for the right to sign such a contract with the government."

"The tender for procurement of antiretrovirals must not take place until a new standard is developed," the Community of People Living with HIV said in a statement.

The Health Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

Back to other news for December 22, 2006