Stories tagged with medicine
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HIV positive Thais still waiting for treatment
Northern Thailand has had the unfortunate experience of being highly affected by HIV/AIDS. The problem is being tackled by many NGOs and the Thai government wowed the world last year when it stood up to the American pharmaceutical industry when it said it would be producing generic versions of second line AIDS treatment whether the patent holder liked it or not.
A year later, many AIDS patients say they are still waiting for their second line treatments that hospitals have promised to supply. Last year, when the government told the US that it considered the epidemic in Thailand’s north as a national crisis, this justified ignoring the patent laws that stipulate a certain number of years must pass before a generic version can be produced.
Even under the universal health care scheme, the drug, Kaletra, is still not being widely distributed. Coordinator of Violet House, a support group for HIV positive gay men Samran Takan says, ''Most hospitals say they will provide the second-line treatment for patients who develop resistance to the first-line medicine. But we don't know how long we have to wait.'
Posted by: DaveB on 21 Apr 2008, 18:13