Anti-HIV drug trial

BANGKOK: -- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the Public Health Ministry and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention will jointly conduct trials using Tenofovir, an anti-HIV medication, to learn if it can be used to prevent drug users from contracting the virus.

The three-year programme will take place at 17 BMA drug rehabilitation clinics, where 1,600 intravenous drug users – who are HIV-negative and in good health – will be given doses of the drug, said deputy city clerk Pitinant Natrujirot.

Pitinant said the drug – which was considered safe to use with a low resistance rate – had been proved effective in treating 150,000 Americans living with HIV/Aids, and the trials have been approved by ethics committees in both Thailand and the US. There have only been 10 volunteers who have been given Tenofovir since early June, said programme head Khachit Chupanya.

Khachit urged intravenous drug users aged 20-60 years old to register for the programme at the BMA drug-rehabilitation clinics. Volunteers will each get a Bt50 daily transport allowance, he added.

--The Nation 2005-06-23

Interesting - Tenofavir is pretty much the only drug NOT available in Thailand to those that actually have HIV. Seems somewhat warped to give it to the people who dont have HIV yet the manufacturers have not allowed it to be sold in Thailand to the very people who need it most.

FYI for those that do not know tenofavir is now considered one of the best treatment options in the west and is considered way better than the government medication offered to patients. Even for those than can afford to pay, Teneofavir is not available in this country.

Strange but true - hopefully it is a sign that they are going to allow for this product to be marketed to people who actually need it.