Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 22) — Existing and arriving stocks of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for people living with HIV (PLHIV) will be able to cover all patients until April 2024, the Department of Health (DOH) said, allaying fears of unstable supply.
The DOH statement was in response to the claim of Network Plus Philippines Association, Inc. – composed of 40 member organizations – on the supposed dwindling supply of HIV antiretroviral treatment.
The group earlier said some patients nationwide reported receiving only “one bottle of ARV or even less” when refilling their medications in government treatment facilities. It added that some were asked to prepare to buy their own medication.
The DOH said the low ARV stocks, particularly Tenofovir-Lamivudine-Dolutegravir (TLD), could be attributed to the “unprecedented” increase in use among PLHIV prior to the targeted full-scale rollout of the transition from their existing regimens.
“As the PLHIV community became more aware of the promising superiority of TLD over other regimens through word of mouth, social media, learning sessions with support groups, and information dissemination by the treatment facilities, there was notable increase in the uptake of TLD across the facilities,” it explained on Wednesday.
The department said the initial batch of additional TLD supply it procured for this year, which consists of 58,000 bottles, is expected to arrive by the end of June.
It said these stocks can cover current patients, as well as estimated new enrolees and shiftees based on the updated TLD transition plan until the rest of the other batches are delivered.
The DOH noted that the second tranche is expected in July (243,000 bottles), while the third will arrive in September (292,000 bottles).
“Further, a reorder of 25% of the total procurement (146,000 bottles) will be facilitated to ensure adequate supply until next year,” it said.
