Activist Groups' Plea to Indian Prime Minister: 'Rollout Second-Line AIDS T...(undersigned members of civil society gro...),Health

-- "We request your leadership to safeguard the interest and protect the constitutional right to life of the people living with HIVAIDS."

-- "National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) has provided free first-line anti-retroviral drugs in a number of sites to people who are in need and who otherwise could not have accessed anti-retroviral medicines. However, there is an urgent need for expanded treatment services including second-line anti-retroviral drugs and a vibrant public health action plan."

-- "We appeal to you for your immediate intervention and come to the rescue of thousands of HIVAIDS infected children, women and men who are facing imminent death due to unavailability of the life saving second-line drugs."

As AIDS treatment access has increased in India, Africa and elsewhere in the developing world, the need for access to more effective -- and currently more costly -- second-line AIDS drug therapies has increased dramatically. And as an increasing number of patients are developing resistance to their initial AIDS drug regimens, the need to switch to more clinically appropriate treatment regimens has become a critical priority. India's media recently reported that NACO-provided first-line treatment is failing up to 50% of HIV/AIDS patients in Delhi, and the number in need of second-line treatment is increasing daily, making access to second-line treatment a necessity, not a luxury. Second-line therapies primarily include the class of drugs known as protease inhibitors. And in India, there is also a compelling need for newer, more effective, once-a-day first-line drugs that result in better adherence and less toxicity among patients.

India's National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) recently announced that it
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