NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

AS part of the efforts to meet the Anti-Retroviral, ARV, drugs requirements of Nigerians living with HIV, MSD, one of the world’s healthcare leaders, weekend launched into the Nigerian market its innovative antiretroviral, ARV, drug – Atripla – a prescription medication used to treat HIV-1 infection in adults and children of at least 12 years of age.

A combination of three HIV medicines – Efavirenz, Emtricitabine and Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate – Atripla is currently the only one pill daily HIV regimen for HIV management and it is proven to lower HIV load to undetectable levels while helping to raise T-cell (CD4+) count to help control HIV through three years of a clinical study in patients new to the therapy.

Currently, less than one third of 1.5 million Nigerians requiring ARVs are able to access treatment currently while only 20 percent of the population has access to quality drug.