INDIA – Zydus Cadila, a drug manufacturing company based in India, has received approval from the US Food & Drug Association(USFDA) to market generic Emtricitabine and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate tablets used for treatment of HIV infection.
According to Zydus Cadila, the drugs are to be used alongside other medications to help control HIV infectons to decrease the amount of HIV in one’s body so that the immune system can work better.
Manufacturing of the drugs is set to be done in Zydus’ facility based in Ahmedabad, India.
HIV as an infection continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed 34.7 million (26.0–45.8 million) lives so far.
At the moment, the disease has no cure but due to technological advancements, it is now a manageable condition.
As of 2020, an estimate of 37.6 million people were said to be living with HIV and Africa accounted for two thirds of that according to the WHO.
Currently, the global HIV drugs market is expected to grow from US$30.52 billion in 2020 to US$31.28 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5%.
This change in growth trend is mainly due to companies stabilizing their output after catering to the demand that grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the market is expected to reach $36.46 billion by 2025.
HIV drugs market consists of sales of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) drugs used for the treatment of HIV infection/AIDS.
This market consists of revenue generated by the antiretroviral drug companies manufacturing the anti-retroviral drugs such as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), entry and fusion inhibitors, integrase inhibitors, and protease inhibitors (PIs) for the treatment of HIV infection.
Currently, several countries are evaluating and using antiretroviral drugs (for instance lopinavir boosted with ritonavir (LPV/r), for treating corona virus infection.
Side effects of HIV Drugs have always been a major challenge in antiretroviral therapy.
These drugs come with both short-term side effects (diarrhea, difficulty in sleeping, dizziness, fatigue, headache, muscle pain) and long-term side effects (depression, diabetes, heart disease, insomnia).
Antiretroviral drugs market is increasingly implementing multi-class combination products for treatment of anti-retroviral therapy.
Many companies are focusing on developing breakthrough products for treatment against HIV through antiretroviral drugs in order to maintain their competitive advantage and penetrate new regional markets and Zydus is at the center of it all.
