Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has released a new report that US pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies are testing 97 medicines and vaccines to treat or prevent HIV/AIDS and related conditions.
According to the report, the 97 products in development include 23 vaccines and 54 antivirals. These drugs are either in human clinical trials or awaiting approval by the FDA. Over 31 medicines to treat HIV/AIDS have been approved since scientists first identified the virus that causes AIDS more than 20 years ago. The first HIV/AIDS medicine was approved in 1987, just four years after the virus was identified.
Although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that more than one million Americans were living with HIV infection at the end of 2006, the increased availability and utilization of newer prescription medicines has helped to reduce the US death rate from AIDS substantially in recent years, according to government statistics.
The CDC estimates that since the introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy in 1995, the annual number of deaths in the US due to AIDS has dropped by more than 70%.
Reportedly, from 2000 to 2007, the US pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies contributed more than $9.2 billion to improve health care in the developing world, according to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations.
The projects they supported included clinics to treat patients with HIV/AIDS, education and prevention programs, initiatives to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and donations of medicines for AIDS and related diseases. A number of companies also provide AIDS drugs at reduced prices in many countries.
Billy Tauzin, president and CEO of PhRMA, said: “We are greatly encouraged by these critically important medicines and vaccines in development to treat and prevent HIV infection. Pharmaceutical researchers are continuing their efforts to develop new therapies and vaccines to improve and lengthen the lives of HIV-infected patients.
“As a result of HIV/AIDS medicines, a disease that was once a virtual death sentence can now be controlled and treated as if it were a chronic disease. And the new medicines our scientists are working on right now bring hope for even more promising results in the future.”