The Government drug-buying agency, Pharmac, will pay for two new drugs, efavirenz and abacavir, for the treatment of Aids and HIV.
The announcement coincides with news that the incidence of Aids remains low in New Zealand but the numbers suffering from HIV infections are increasing.
About 900 people are infected with HIV, 117 of them diagnosed with Aids.
The big advantage of efavirenz and abacavir - also known as Sustiva and Ziagen - is that HIV patients need to take fewer of them than other drugs.
There are also fewer side-effects and the new drugs seem to be more effective on children than other treatments.
Over recent years, drug combinations containing a breakthrough class of medicines called protease inhibitors have made Aids a treatable disease, but some patients have failed to benefit, largely because they cannot cope with taking 15 or 20 pills a day on a precise schedule.
Pharmac will also pay for two other HIV-Aids drugs in different forms - saquinavir in soft gel capsules and lamivudine as an oral liquid.
Speaking on World Aids Day yesterday, Aids Epidemiology Group spokesman Dr Jason Eberhart-Phillips said 27 cases of Aids were notified nationwide in the 12 months ended September 30.
During the same period, 77 people were diagnosed with HIV infection.
"Thanks to more effective treatments, fewer people today with HIV infection are developing Aids, and those who do progress to Aids are living longer."
Most of the 165 New Zealanders reported to have Aids since the beginning of 1996 were still alive, largely because of new medical therapies, Dr Eberhart-Phillips said.
Meanwhile, the annual number of new HIV infections has remained steady at an average of about 80.
"The result is an increasing prevalence of HIV-infected people in the community."
That growing pool of infected people underscored the importance of practising safe sex, said Dr Eberhart-Phillips.
Of the 27 notified cases of Aids during the past year, 24 were male.
Sexual intercourse between men was thought to account for 17 cases, while six were believed to have arisen from heterosexual contact. Only one case was attributed to injecting drugs.
Of the 77 new HIV cases, 54 were male. Only 25 of the infections - less than one-third of the total - were thought to have occurred in New Zealand.
Kevin Hague, executive director of the New Zealand Aids Foundation, said the disease would be defeated only through the universal adoption and maintenance of safe sex.
Deaths from Aids worldwide now exceed 3 million a year, says the United Nations.
More than 36 million people are believed to be infected with HIV.
- NZPA
Herald Online Health
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