The Health Department reacted angrily on Tuesday to comments made by the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, about the independent Medicines Control Council’s (MCC) threat to de-list the anti-retroviral drug nevirapine.
Ndungane, who was speaking at the Durban Aids conference, said the Aids pandemic had become a world disgrace as serious as apartheid and asked why government had failed to acknowledge that nevirapine was recommended worldwide as a safe chronic medication.
The Health Department, in response, said Ndungane’s remarks clearly indicated a lack of information as the government had ”no role in regulating medicines, including nevirapine” because ”in terms of the law, this is the responsibility of an independent Medicines Control Council.
”It is unfortunate that the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town has chosen to issue an irresponsible and politically dangerous statement at the time when government and civil society are meeting in Durban to address the very challenge of HIV and Aids.”
Ndungane could have contributed to the conference by being part of the process that government was engaged in — trying to find common ground with other stakeholders — rather than seeking to perpetuate unnecessary confusion, according to Sibani Mngadi, the department’s spokesperson.
Last week, the MCC told drug manufacturer Boehringer Ingleheim that unless it provided additional effectiveness data within 90 days, the government would revoke nevirapine’s temporary approval for use in preventing mother-to-child transmission (MTCT).
The MCC is unhappy with the results of the Ugandan trials on which registration of nevirapine was based.
On Monday, Professor James McIntyre, one of the world’s leading experts on MTCT, said 100 000 women had already received this drug in the past two years in South Africa and that this had reduced the incidence of HIV in babies from a 40% to between nine percent and five percent.
Meanwhile Paediatrician Dr Ashraf Coovadia of Coronation hospital said it costs the state R30 per baby to administer nevirapine while it costs the state an average of R600 a month or around R28 000 during the shortened life expectancy of the baby to treat the ill child.
Well known Aids lobbyists the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) have appealed to the MCC to present its information about the alleged dangers of nevirapine and have also threatened legal action if the government de-lists the drug.
The TAC, which 16 months ago won a High Court order forcing the government to implement a roll-out of ARVs to pregnant mothers, said the MCC has played ”political games” with the registration of nevirapine since 1999.
Nevirapine is not the only drug that can be used to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission. AZT is more effective, but it is also slightly more expensive and complex. – Sapa