WHO Adds Lamivudine, Three Versions of Flucanozole to List of Recommended AIDS-Related Medicines
The World Health Organization on Tuesday announced that it has added a generic version of antiretroviral lamivudine and three versions of the antifungal medication flucanozole to its list of recommended AIDS-related medicines, Reuters/Yahoo! News reports. In a statement released at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, WHO officials announced the approval of Strides Arcolab's 150 mg tablet of the antiretroviral lamivudine, an alternative to a generic form of the same drug produced by Cipla that was removed from the WHO prequalification list in June (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 7/13). Dr. Lembit Rago, WHO's coordinator for quality assurance and safety of medicines, said in June that Cipla's versions of lamivudine and zidovudine were removed from the list because of problems detected during a routine inspection of an independent laboratory that Cipla had hired to conduct bioequivalence studies of the drugs. WHO routinely conducts inspections among makers of drugs included on its list of medicines that are approved for purchase by United Nations agencies. (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/16). In addition, WHO said that it added three different dosages of the antifungal treatment fluconazole made by Cipla to its prequalification list this week (Reuters, 7/13).
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