SA looks for cheap anti-Aids drug treatment

JOHANNESBURG -- Treatments and "cures" for HIV and Aids have regularly hit the headlines in this country, where at least 3,5 million people live with the virus.

In each case, cost has been a major factor as Aids continues to spread and impacts on the country's resources.

Medicines Control Council (MCC) chairman Helen Rees said South Africa desperately needed a cheap drug that was accessible to all people living with HIV and Aids.

The cost of the latest drug Inactivin is unknown at present.

The so-called ''triple therapy'' first hit the headlines here three years ago. Consisting of AZT or a similar drug, in combination with two other drugs, the cocktail has to be taken for life.

But the cost of R4 000 a month puts it out of reach for the average person.

Medical University of Southern Africa's Professor Wimpie Du Plooy said Inactivin would be cheaper than the triple therapy.

Triple therapy costs the state R124000 a year per patient, Du Plooy said.

The Health Department last year said it was unlikely it would be able to afford to give out multi-drug starter kits -- which included 3TC and AZT at a cost of R1500 a month per patient.

Virodene, punted as a major breakthrough, was denied clinical trials by the MCC, after a 22-month inquiry into the drug, on December 10 last year.

The African potato plant, which had been tested since 1992, was found to boost the immune system and help the body fight HIV.

Although not a cure, it improves the quality of life of people living with HIV and Aids at the cost of R150 a month. -- DDC