The Efficacy of a US-Based Medicine Recycling Program Delivering Antiretroviral Drugs Worldwide

Abstract

Since 1996, AID FOR AIDS International (AFAI) has collected unused antiretroviral drugs (ART) and ;;recycled'' these medications to over 600 people living with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS abroad under its AIDS Treatment Access Program. The investigators evaluated AIDS Treatment Access Program's efficacy using immunologic and virologic outcomes. Of the 404 eligible clients who had baseline and follow-up CD4 counts, mean baseline versus most recent measure was 230 + 222 cells/mm( 3) versus 372 + 256 cells/mm(3) (P < .01). Of the 216 eligible clients who had baseline (>400 copies/mL) and follow-up viral loads, 62% (134/ 216) had undetectable viral loads (<400 copies/mL) at their most recent measure. Median enrollment time in the recycling program was 3.1 years (range: 6 months to 9.5 years). AFAI's medication recycling program is efficacious in reaching and improving the clinical outcomes of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Such programs should be considered a viable option among scale-up programs until governments provide universal access of ART to PLWHA.

Medication Use and Storage, and Their Potential Risks in US Households

“…For instance, medication reuse pertains to redispensing of medications that were once acquired by an individual or healthcare facility. Redistributing unused medications can reduce healthcare waste and costs, and enhance access to care [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Patients are recognized as the primary consumers of reused medications and as one of the potential primary sources of medications to be reused [23][24][25][26][27].…”

Donation programme of returned medicines: role of donors and point of view of beneficiaries

“…The donation of unused medicines is not accepted worldwide, although it is legal in some countries. 1,2 A constant increase in the rate of prescription writing has prompted several charity organizations to collect a growing number of unused medicines. 3 WHO guidelines for drug donations discourage donation of unused medicines, as this may create a number of problems.…”

“…[5][6][7][8] However, cases of regulated donations have been reported in the USA, where several states have adopted laws in order to facilitate the redistribution of unused drugs to indigent and uninsured patients. 1,2,9 As the benefit of long-term donation programmes has never been investigated, we followed and analysed one of them, and synthesized our observations in this paper.…”