New low-cost HIV drug launched in Uganda

Marking an advancement in its fight against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the Ugandan government on Sunday launched a cheaper one-pill-a-day drug for HIV treatment.

The single-dose Trioday treatment, which costs only $13 per month, replaces the cumbersome 12-drug cocktails that used to be the only option for people with the fatal human immunodeficiency virus, Xinhua reported.

"We are reaching the phase of the end of the HIV epidemic in Uganda and the region. We had never dreamed about this in 30 to 40 years back," said Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, who launched the drug on behalf of President Yoweri Museveni.

The new drug, a triple cocktail anti-retroviral (ARV), is manufactured by Cipla Quality Chemical Industries, Ltd, in Uganda.

Uganda still falls short of its goal of ensuring that 80 percent of people living with HIV receive ARVs by the end of 2015.

At present, just half of the 1.5 million in need of HIV treatment in the country are on the life-prolonging ARVs, according to Uganda AIDS Commission statistics.

At least 137,000 new HIV infections were recorded in Uganda in 2014, according to the Health Ministry.