An HIV drug, declared unsafe and unfit for use by WHO in 2009, continues to be the first-line treatment drug for a majority of Indian HIV+ people on Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART). The Tamil Nadu government may pride itself on supplying free medication to thousands of HIV+ patients, but the drug, Stavudine, doled out to 80 per cent of the 62,000 patients registered with the state’s ART programme, including babies and children, is a potential killer.
WHO had asked all countries to stop using Stavudine after taking stock of its terrible side-effects. “Stavudine has several irreversible side-effects: the most common is disfiguration of the face. The drug removes fat from the cheeks and deposits it around the abdomen and behind the neck. Apart from this, the drug can also cause severe kidney damage, and also damages the nerves, causing pain in the feet and other extremities,” explains Dr Aishwarya Rao, former ART officer with Tansacs. “All western countries, and even nations like Thailand and a few African countries have stopped using Stavudine. Unlike in 2004 when it was prescribed, there are so many safer options now,” she says.
The drug of choice, Tenofovir, is reserved as a last resort and given only after the patient experiences the (irreversible) side-effects of Stavudine.
Mr Karunanidhi, coordinator of the TN network of people with HIV/AIDS and an HIV-sufferer for 19 years, recalls that he stopped using Stavudine as soon as he learnt about its side-effects.
The other prescribed drug, Ziduvidane, causes anaemia and, hence, it is also unfit for the iron-deficient Indian population.
While Naco officials, responsible for Centrally-procured ART drugs, were unreachable, Dr Suniti Solomon, founder of YRG care centre in Chennai, says that the government is waiting to exhaust its Stavudine stock and will not order for more