April 2001

Recycling HIV Drugs

Throughout the United States and Europe groups of people are working to get excess supplies of HIV drugs to those who need them in countries where they can’t afford them. Companies have opposed the idea of drug donations claiming that without an infrastructure for monitoring and educating patients, the drugs will be wasted.

Aid for AIDS

Beginning in 1996 gay men from Venezuela living in New York began collecting unused HIV medications and sending them home. Their effort became Aid for AIDS. In the first year they provided drugs for 20 people, most of whom are still alive and many of whom are staffing local offices of AfA in their home countries. In 2000 AfA served 248 people and shipped over $3 million worth of HIV drugs from New York to Latin America. It now has regional offices in Venezuela, Peru, Chile, and the Dominican Republic. The regional offices help coordinate with local agencies to make sure donations are used effectively. Only six children are currently receiving medicines; AfA is designing a Kids Project to increase the amount of pediatric formulations of HIV drugs that are donated.

AfA also works to educate local doctors about drugs, their side effects, and their interactions. Hans Binswanger, an HIV-positive man who is director of the environmental, rural, and social development department for Africa at the World Bank, believes that drug recycling efforts are a positive move. He believes that as drugs are used, local infrastructure to support them will develop spontaneously and will be in place once large-scale donation programs begin to operate.

Donors

Most drug donations come from people with HIV who have accumulated an excess supply after a change of regimen or have collected unused drugs from friends. Others come from social workers or clinics. About 30 organizations routinely collect excess drugs for AfA. Drugs will be distributed up to six months after their expiration date. Inventories are updated daily.

Jesus Aguais, the director of Aid for AIDS, feels strongly about the importance of drug recycling programs—and also about the importance of maintaining stringent operating procedures, so that supplies to clients once accepted are consistent and no drugs are diverted from the intended clients.

AfA has a starter kit for individuals and groups who would like to collect excess medicines for recycling programs.