Since its inception, the VIRAMUNE Donation Programme has contributed to preserving the health of many tens of thousands of babies born to HIV+ mothers throughout the developing world. In the intervening decade, medicine sufficient for the management of more than 2 million mother-child pairs was donated to mtct projects throughout the world.
Over the ten years since the start of the VIRAMUNE Donation Programme, there have been new developments and new insights into the therapies that can be offered to reduce mtct of HIV-1 even further. Single dose VIRAMUNE (with its active ingredient nevirapine) as employed in the VIRAMUNE Donation Programme and, as included in the new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, is no longer considered as the optimal approach for this purpose.
Other regimens, albeit more complicated, have been
developed; the alternatives are now included in the
latest guidelines on PMTCT launched by WHO in July of
2010 at the World Aids Conference in Vienna.
In light of these recent modified guidelines, the VIRAMUNE Donation Programme will no longer be pursued in its current form. .
Where possible, Axios International, the administrator of the project, and Boehringer Ingelheim will assist participants in the transition to the new guidelines. Additionally, VIRAMUNE 50 mg/5 ml oral suspension in the larger 240 ml pack, will now be offered at a not-for-profit price, to accommodate the longer period of paediatric dosing recommended in the new guidelines and prevent any problems of supply. Other products containing the active ingredient nevirapine are now widely available in the developing world, from a number of appropriately qualified generic manufacturers. Boehringer Ingelheim has made a non-assert declaration to generic manufacturers pre-qualified by the WHO, to manufacture products containing the active ingredient nevirapine.
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contact us.
èBoehringer
Ingelheim policy paper on HIV/AIDS |
