Once-daily dosage lamivudine another ARV first for Cipla Medpro
In an effort to promote adherence to medication and offer convenience to many people living with HIV/AIDS, local pharmaceutical company Cipla Medpro (Pty) Ltd has released South Africa’s first single tablet once-daily dosage of the antiretroviral lamivudine. This 300 mg dosage is as effective as the currently available twice daily dose of lamivudine 150 mg and carries the same safety profile.

Jerome Smith, CEO of Enaleni Pharmaceuticals Ltd and founder of Cipla Medpro, says the launch of a single tablet once-daily lamivudine is a significant development for patient groups where adherence to medication and pill burden is problematic.

“For many people living with HIV/AIDS, adherence to the various medications necessary to manage the condition is hampered by difficult living conditions, lifestyle and time constraints. By offering a single tablet once daily dosage lamivudine we hope to reduce the pill burden and to promote greater adherence to medicines, ultimately assisting patients to achieve the necessary minimum 95% adherence rate.

“Just to give an example, lamivudine 300mg can be prescribed in combination with other preferred antiretrovirals such as tenofovir 300mg and efavirenz 600mg, both of which are once daily dosages. Now we can offer these individuals a complete once-daily regimen. The other benefit is that the 300mg once-daily lamivudine is the same price as the twice daily dosage, so there is absolutely no negative cost implication to a person switching from a twice daily 150mg dosage to the 300mg tablet,” he says.

Cipla Medpro, South Africa’s third largest pharmaceutical company (by volume) was also the first to launch Triomune, a three-in-one ARV in South Africa in 2006. Smith says the company currently has 15 registered ARVs on the market, 14 awaiting registration at the Medicines Control Council and another 9 in the pipeline from Cipla International, one of the world’s leading producers of chronic and generic medicines and with whom Cipla Medpro enjoys a strong relationship and a twenty year product pipeline agreement.