Antiretroviral Drug Content in Products from Developing Countries

Generic and brand name antiretroviral drugs are becoming increasingly available in developing countries. We analyzed 6 antiretroviral medications from 4 international sources for drug content. The active ingredient in tested drug products was within 15 % of the labeled amount (range, 12 % to +15%) for drugs that were properly stored. Combination antiretroviral therapy has dramatically reduced morbidity and mortality secondary to HIV infection [1]. In the developing world, at least 6 million of the 42 million HIV-infected patients are in urgent need of antiretroviral medica-tions, yet because of the high costs,!300,000 are receiving treatment. However, generic antiretroviral medications, along with discounted brand name products, are quickly increasing the availability of these drugs [2, 3]. Although generic medications offer affordable treatment fo