Question
Can I use the same medications in Thailand as in the UK?
9 October 2008. Related: Access to treatment, All topics.
Hi, I live in Thailand.
Can I use the same medicines in the UK, USA or other developed countries?
Will those medicines work for me? I hear that there are different subtypes of HIV in different parts of the world.
Answer
HIV medications are generally the same in ever country although there are still big differences in access to the whole range of different drugs. Globally, the earliest drugs (nukes, NNRTIs and some PIs) are easiest to get.
As long as your treatments have been approved by the WHO, FDA or other regulatory agency, then the differences are in the names and the manufacturers will not affect the quality of the drugs. In Thailand, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) makes its own version of some HIV drugs and these are the same as Western brands.
One big difference is the use of d4T (stavudine) in triple combinations, which are now hardly used in the West because of higher rates of side effects including neuropathy (nerve damage) and lipoatrophy (fat loss).
As for the subtype, it will not play a role when it comes to your treatment. If you have HIV-2, however, the class called NNRTIs (non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors) can not be used, as they do not work against HIV-2.
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