New regime can help HIV patients live longer

A new study published in Journal of the International AIDS Society found that the life expectancy of Indian HIV patients can go up by 3 years and the infections might go down by 23%, by using the dolutegravir-based regimen widely used in the US and Europe.

Furthermore, the adoption of the regime developed by ViiV, will not even make a dent on the nation’s healthcare cost. Dolutegravir is known to have fewer side effects and is less likely to provoke drug resistance as compared to other HIV drugs being used today. A generic version of this drug has just been made available in India.

A mathematical model was used to study the survival and economic results of adopting the dolutegravir regime as first-line therapy by the Indian healthcare system over 2 and 5 year horizons. It was found that new regime might increase the life expectancy by 2.8 years in people already suffering from HIV and can prevent 13,000 new infections in 5 years.

Talking about the costs, the study predicted that it would only cost $102 USD per patient as compared to the already existing $98 used by India.

Since 2017, two Indian pharmaceutical companies have been providers to a generic dolutegravir-based combination drug to African countries that costs $75 per patient, per year. This is lower than the current therapy cost used by India and yet, the generic dolutegravir is not implemented.

In a country where the world’s third largest population suffering from HIV resides, making dolutegravir-based regime as first-line therapy would only be beneficial to the citizens and the country.

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