ABSTRACT

The prevalence of HIV-infected patients in antiretroviral treatment is continuously increasing in western world due to longer survival, changes in guidelines for initiation of treatment and immigration from poor resources countries: the cost of drugs will inevitably drive the future choices. Since for an always larger number of antiretroviral drugs the patent is going to expire in the next few years, the generic drugs may let great cost reduction. One of the immediate issues that the clinicians are going to face, is the “disruption” of the actual drugs co-formulations (that is >1 drug in one pill) for economic reasons. However, the patent expiration of the antiretroviral drugs might allow in the next years different coformulations with respect to those currently available. The role of the generic drugs in antiretroviral therapy is still well undefined but probably they will occupy a larger and larger market share: the implications of this change for clinical practice are not fully understandable at the present time, but clinicians and authorities should evaluate advantages and disadvantages, avoiding opportunistic choices or defensive positions, in order to offer the best cost-effective treatment to the largest number of HIV patients.
Keywords: Generic drug; Co-formulation; Antiretroviral therapy.

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