The Australia-India Council (AIC)to help make cheaper version of

Cavidi Exavir Load technology to cost Rs 900 compared to existing Rs 7000 version

Ravik Bhattacharya

Kolkata, February 19: A simple, cost-effective alternative technology for testing viral load (number of virus of per ml blood) for people living with HIV/AIDS, expected to initiate a marked change in the treatment scenario in India, is in the offing, courtesy the Australia-India Council (AIC).

The method, based on "Cavidi Exavir Load technology", already tested in Australia, will be developed in the government sector in Hyderabad in a joint venture between CII, NACO and AIC.

The initiative is aimed at providing cheap and easy viral load testing compared to prevalent Polymerised Chain Reaction (PCR)-based tests, which are very costly and currently available only at the National AIDS Research Institute, Pune.

The new technology will cost around Rs 900 per patient per test, compared to the PCR-based tests which cost around Rs 3,000 to 7,000 per patient.

The viral load testing is necessary to know if the condition of the patient is worsening so anti-retroviral medicines can be prescribed. Currently, the prescription is made according to the physical condition of the patient. But that leaves room for error and is liable to make the patient ART resistant.Such HIV positives then have to go for second line drugs which are costly and toxic.

The project is among the initiatives by the Indo-Australian joint venture in combating HIV/AIDS in India. The AIC is interested in introducing the system in West Bengal.

"Viral load testing facilities are not available for common people here. The only technology -- PCR based -- is available at a very high cost and that too is rare in the government sector. We have been working with NACO and are introducing Cavidi Exavir load testing technology, which is five times cheaper than other tests and apt for resource-constraint settings," said Professor Suzanne Crowe, board member, AIC, and head of AIDS Pathogenesis and Clinical Research Programme, Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health, Australia.

"Andhra Pradesh has shown interest and soon we will set up a laboratory facility in Hyderabad. We are eager to introduce the system in West Bengal," said Crowe who was present at an interactive session in the CII's eastern region headquarters in Kolkata.

"We are training doctors and laboratory technicians in the country in proper diagnosis methods and procedures for giving ART medicines to HIV positive patients," she said.

The Centre has begun free distribution of the medicines to seven states, but lack of infrastructural facilities are hampering the programmes. Alleging that the Indian government was initially slow in responding to the AIDS menace, she said currently there is a turnaround in prevention and care in the country.

"The situation in India will be worse by 2010, if the government fails to take action," she added.

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