New HIV drug available on PBS

A new drug available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from July 1 offers new options to people living with HIV. Intelence is the first non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) to be introduced in Australia in almost ten years.
It offers new possibilities for PLWHIV who have developed an NNRTI-resistant strain of the virus.
NNRTIs have been trusted by clinicians and used in antiretroviral therapy for more than a decade, but NNRTI resistance has limited the use of this important class of HIV medication, an HIV doctor from the drug company Tibotec said.
Intelence extends the NNRTI class to treatment-experienced patients in Australia, providing them with the potential to suppress their virus to undetectable levels.
The drug has been recommended for antiretroviral experienced patients with a viral load greater than 10,000 and a CD4 cell count of less than 500.
The National Association of People Living With HIV/AIDS praised the addition of Intelence to the PBS list.
This is an important new drug for patients with limited options, and the HIV community is very pleased, NAPWA’s Health, Treatments and Research Portfolio co-convenor, John Daye said.