AEGiS-13IAC: The impact of the UNAIDS initiative on the price of treatments in the Ivory Coast.

13th International AIDS Conference

Durban, South Africa - July 9-July 14, 2000

The impact of the UNAIDS initiative on the price of treatments in the Ivory Coast.

Int Conf AIDS 2000 Jul 9-14; 13:21 (abstract no.. LbOr18)

Juillet A, Malaval C, Msellati P, Moatti JP
ANRS/IRD, Abidjan, Cote D?Ivoire. Fax: +225-35 40 15, E-mail: juillet@bassam.ird.ci.

One of the objectives of the UNAIDS Initiative is to improve access to HIV related drugs. What is the real impact of implementation of the Ivory Coast UNAIDS Initiative on quantities of drugs sale and on prices of anti-retrovirals (ARV) and for other drugs for opportunistic infections (OI).

METHODS: The Initiative started within a context where the main public importer-distributor of essential drugs, ?Pharmacie de Sante Publique? (PSP), also responsible for the distribution of ARV, tried, from early 90's, to improve its missions. Therefore, the impact of the Initiative is difficult to appreciate by itself. Evolutions observed in the field of ARV and OI have been compared to drugs unrelated to HIV/AIDS, antihypertensive drugs (AHD). Data was collected through all drugs wholesalers (public and private) in the Ivory Coast. From 1996 to 2000, we identified the evolution of sale volumes and of prices for each studied drug and for each wholesaler.

RESULTS: from the beginning of 1998, volumes of ARV sold by the PSP increased when compared to previous years. This can be related to the announcement and beginning of the Initiative (August 1998). Prices OI drugs have been reduced compared to 1997. For ARV drugs, while a small price reduction was observed at the moment of announcement of the Initiative in the Ivory Coast, this evolution did not continue. In 2000, thee was a mean reduction of 16% on the prices of ARV, caused by generic drugs (ZDV and mainly D4T). The cost for a one month bitherapy course (DDI+D4T) would be around 160$ US and of 460$ US for tritherapy (ADV+3TC+Indinavir).

CONCLUSION: The Initiative had a small impact on the price of ARV in the Ivory Coast in the short term. The policy of the PSP seems to have produced most of the impact on the price reduction. The recent announcement by UNAIDS and five drugs firms on global reduction of prices for ARV will probably have little is no impact, on dugs price in Ivory Coast before 2001.

Keywords: AEGIS, Stavudine, HIV Infections, Didanosine, Zidovudine, Lamivudine, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Drugs, Generic, Drug Therapy, Combination, Cote d'Ivoire, therapy, drug therapy, AIDS
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