Working group to help distribute AIDS drug

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia have a new hope for alleviating symptoms and delaying the onset of full-blown AIDS for those with the HIV virus as the government has arranged the supply of inexpensive generic AIDS drugs across the country.

A memorandum of understanding on generic antiretroviral (ARV) drugs distribution cooperation was signed on Thursday between PT Indofarma and the Working Group on HIV/AIDS at the Medical School of University of Indonesia (Pokdisus UI).

"Through this cooperation, people with HIV/AIDS may obtain the drugs for only Rp 60,000 (US$6.74) per dose, which is ten times cheaper than the branded one," said Pokdisus spokesman Zubairi Djoerban, who is also an AIDS medical expert.

As of today people infected with HIV in Indonesia numbered some 120,000, and most come from middle to lower income brackets who are unable to afford expensive brand-name drugs, Zubairi said.

He said that the government had arranged for Indofarma to import and deliver the drugs directly to Pokdisus, who would later distribute them to any general practitioner who handled patients with HIV/AIDS across the country.

"The patients therefore can order ARV through the doctors, who will send the prescription to Pokdisus. The working group will send the drugs to the patient's address, after receiving a bank transfer receipt and the prescription," he said.

President Director of Indofarma Edy Pramono said: "The MOU will take effect on Mar. 1, when people with HIV/AIDS may start ordering ARV via Pokdisus."

He said that currently his company still has stocks for 15 days and is expecting next shipment from India and Thailand that could provide three months stock.

The agreement was reached after the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM) gave an import permit with Special Access Service (SAS) procedure to Indofarma under the consideration of a national emergency, said BPOM head Sampurno.

Meanwhile, in a hearing on Thursday, the House of Representatives Commission VII for Health and Social Welfare supported BPOM's step on giving such a permit as an effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

BPOM also clarified the issue about the agency's weak monitoring that allowed legal precursors leaked, leading to high illicit drugs production blamed for rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.

Sampurno said: "We have a full monitoring of legal narcotic, psychotropic and precursors imports because only one pharmaceutical factory imports the drugs."

On Tuesday a non-governmental organization said that BPOM had weak monitoring proved by its own self-audit report on narcotic control.

"The report was not on narcotics like heroin or cocaine, but on codeine that is widely used for cough medicine among children. We give warnings especially to drugstores that fail to provide this particular narcotic, which is codeine," he said.