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“A clear step backwards in the paediatric treatment of HIV”. The TRT-5 group of associations against HIV/AIDS has condemned the halting “without prior notice” of sales of 100mg capsules of Sustiva. This antiretroviral drug produced by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is particularly suited for paediatric use. The manufacturer finds their reaction “somewhat exaggerated”, explains Benoît Gallet, vice-president of BMS-France.
“It’s true that our communications were not all they should be. However, the decision to withdraw this drug (Sustiva) from the market forms part of a rationalisation of our products, in line with our parent company in the United States”.
In other words, the production of this particular form of the drug could no longer be justified. An argument rejected en bloc by the TRT-5 associations for whom “BMS has chosen to deprive children living with HIV(…) of a formulation particularly suited to their treatment”. Not true, replies Benoît Gallet. “At present in France, fewer than 10 children are (treated by this form of) Sustiva. A figure which includes French overseas departments and territories. Furthermore, viable alternatives exist. The liquid form of the drug is one, contrary to what the associations claim. I therefore find this reaction somewhat exaggerated, particularly since we are the only firm to have systematically developed paediatric forms of our drugs”.
As the TRT-5 group points out, 100mg Sustiva is not really going to disappear from our shelves. There is in fact “a generic form of the drug, produced by the Indian pharmaceutical laboratory Cipla”.
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