Edwin Musoni
30 September 2008
Kigali — Over 21,000 Rwandans are expected to benefit from yet to be imported low-cost, generic Aids drug, Apo-TriAvir, The New Times has learnt.
The triple combination anti-HIV medicine was manufactured by the largest Canadian-owned pharmaceutical company, Apotex Inc.
The medicine that is approved under Canada's Access to Medicines Regime were purchased by the government of Rwanda at a cost of US$3 million (Approx. Frw 1.7 billion) and the first batch is expected in the country any time soon.
According to a press statement on Apotex website, the drugs are expected to serve 21,000 people. The last batch of the dose is expected to be shipped in September next year.
Apo-TriAvir is the latest antiretroviral drug on the market and is a combination of 300mg of Zidovudine, 150mg of Lamivudine and 200mg Nevirapine.
When contacted to know if the dose purchased by Rwanda was enough for Aids patients, the Health Minister Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo said that Rwandans on ARVs are about 50,000, and that not only Apotex is supplying antiretrovirals to Rwanda.
"You shouldn't be so much interested in Apotex drugs. They are not donating them to us and they are not the only suppliers of ARVs; you can contact Rwanda Medical stores (CAMERWA) for details about the dose they bought and why they bought that amount," Ntawukuriryayo told this reporter on phone yesterday.
Efforts to contact the Director of Rwanda Medical stores (CAMERWA) Amb. Zephyr Mutanguha were futile by press time. Meanwhile, an email sent to The New Times from the Director of Apotex Inc Elie Betito indicates that Canadian people very much care about helping Africa with their essential medicines.
Betito also says that Canada wants Apotex to help save many lives in Africa and that the general public was thankful that the drugs were shipped.
Rwanda is the only African country that successfully made the request for the medicine, and the first shipment contains seven million tablets.
The press statement from Apotex also indicates that Apo-TriAvir will save lives the moment the patients have access to it.
Apotex competed against pharmaceutical companies from around the world in the tender to supply this Aids drug, and won.
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