ICA Pharmaceuticals Vietnam (ICA VN) on May 15 provided about 1 million tablets of Lamivudin 150mg to the National Institute of Tropical and Contagious Diseases for distribution nationwide.

ICA VN is the first pharmaceutical company of Vietnam to supply HIV medicine together with two other European pharmaceutical companies. The anti-HIV Lamivudin has been selected for the National AIDS Control Programme for 2007.

Lamivudin 150mg is sold at 87,000 VND/60-tablet phial. This medicine is used together with other retrovirals for HIV treatment. With this medicine, it costs an AIDS/HIV patient only 1 million VND (approximately 60 USD) for one-year of medication. This means that more patients, especially poor ones, can access treatment.

(CPV/QDND)