The societal costs of failing to develop a vaccine

doi:10.1136/bmj.39269.490255.BE

BMJ 2007;335:60 (14 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.39269.490255.BE

Letters

HIV

The societal costs of failing to develop a vaccine

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Policymakers should consider not the cost of developing a vaccineagainst HIV, but the cost to society if it fails to developone.¹

In the developed world, some patients on antiretroviral treatmentwill develop drug resistance and the number will be cumulativeeach year. Medical care costs will increase exponentially fordrug resistant patients, greatly exceeding the price of treatments.

Primary HIV-1 drug resistance ranges from 6.6% in Brazil to10% in Spain to 27.7% in North America,² perhaps because ofmore frequent testing in developed countries.

Yet, this may be a portent of what will come in the developingworld. By the end of this year, two million people will probablybe on AIDS treatment. Many come from resource limited settings,where initial testing is limited, adherence is problematic,and substandard drugs are used as first line treatment. Suboptimaladherence is the most important factor in virological failure.Adherence . . . [Full text of this article]

Jeremiah Norris, director

Center For Science in Public Policy, Hudson Institute, Washington, DC 20005, USA

Jeannie@hudson.org