Health Canada Gave Access To Unapproved Drugs To
AIDS/HIV Patients.
Reported July 4, 2007
In Vancouver Health Canada gives
access to the usage of two drugs in a rare medical trail. These drugs were
necessary to help prevent men dying of AIDS.
They are anti-retroviral drugs which have been studied individually but there
action together is not been reviewed. These drugs are unapproved for the usage
in AIDS patient and hence their access is declined by the government.
The usage of this new unapproved AIDS drug started nine months earlier and a
patient died. So the clinicians were not interested in getting themselves
enmeshed in a bureaucratic delay.
The two unapproved drugs for AIDS were TMC 114 and TMC 125 was planned to be
brought into Canada through the Health Canada special access program for
terminally ill patients.
But it did not do so. Hence the clinicians went public. Due to the stress from
the politicians and media personnel, Health Canada accepted for a clinical trail
to be conducted using these two drugs.
Due to this new way of
treatment hospitals wanted a change in their patient consent forms. A Belgian
based company Tibotec Inc told the hospitals that it will provide the drugs free
of cost but sign a contract with the hospital and then ship the drugs from US.
The clinicians suggested that the patients will be put on their drugs in the
beginning of the new yea. One of the patients suffering from AIDS only five are
critical and one of them is an artist.
He is very happy about the news of the unapproved drugs coming to Canada for
their treatment. The doctor said that his nervous system is damaged and he has
lost sensation in his feet and one hand. But still he paints with his other
hand.
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh was met by another patient who led a protest in
which Santa and his elves brought 5 coffin boxes to signify the number of lives
at risk.
Hedy Fry, the Liberal candidate for Vancouver Centre, said that they will make
the necessary steps in the procedure so that the minister could supersede
whenever necessary with expert clinical advice. Hence such actions can be
avoided in the future.
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