LONDON, Nov 30 -- Glaxo Wellcome Plc said on Tuesday the group expected to seek approval of a new tablet combining three of its best-selling AIDS drugs in the next few weeks.
In an interview with Reuters, Chairman Richard Sykes said the company hoped to submit a triple combination therapy involving Retrovir, Epivir, and Ziagen in the US and the European Union shortly, further reducing the number of tablets patients have to take and encouraging greater compliance.
"Going back in time, you probably had to take 20 to 24 capsules a day -- that led to non-compliance because people just don't want to face it. Now we have drug regimens where you can be taking one or two tablets a day and compliance with this is much easier, so resistance (to the drug) becomes less of a problem," he said.
Combinations of drugs have proved to be the key breakthrough in treating HIV and AIDS in the developed world, allowing the virus to be kept below detectable levels.
But speaking before presenting awards to five international companies across industry for their work in HIV and AIDS, Sykes defended the group against charges that its drugs were too expensive for developing countries, where 95 percent of the current AIDS pandemic is centered.
Earlier this month, South Africa's Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said providing Retrovir, also known as AZT, to all South Africans who needed it would cost $50 billion a year, even at reduced prices.
"We play a very important role in drugs with UNAIDS and Unicef and many other organizations," Sykes said.
"We have differential pricing on the basis that if we allow a poor country to take a drug at low cost we expect that drug to stay within that country (and not be re-exported) and that's where in terms of profit it becomes very important."
As well as being the leading producer of AIDS therapies worldwide, Glaxo Wellcome has other groundbreaking treatments for conditions prevalent in the developing world, notably Malarone for malaria and Zeffix for hepatitis B.
"We actually donate Malarone to poor countries that can't afford it because usually malaria-stricken areas are poor areas," said Sykes.
As far as Zeffix and hepatitis B are concerned we will look at the situation and there will be differential pricing. It is true of our AIDS drugs -- we work with UNAIDS for access and there are discounted drugs provided through that program," Sykes said.
"In terms of mother-to-child transmission (of HIV) with UNICEF we provided 10,000 free doses of AZT, we've got discounted prices to governments around the world, including South Africa.... We continue to work to make sure we can provide that drug to them at a much lower cost than anywhere else."
Sykes said Glaxo would continue to put a major effort into the search for AIDS treatments.
Today we have more than 200 clinical trials around the world in this area. We have programs looking at new drugs, looking at vaccines, working to find better ways of getting at this disease."
However, he said discovery of a preventative vaccine was some way off.
"A vaccine will eventually come, but it won't be here in the next two or three years, that's for certain," he added.
Sykes, as chairman of the global business council on HIV/AIDS which includes music channel MTV, bank Standard Chartered Plc and Calvin Klein Inc, presented awards to companies including South Africa's Anglo Coal for HIV prevention campaigns among workers and Volkswagen do Brasil for a medical care and counseling program for employees.
Copyright* 1999 Reuters Limited.*
