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Single-dose HIV pack takes the right PATH

FPA awarded a Special Citation for Social Responsibility for a multilayer foil-laminated pouch that allows HIV-positive mothers in Kenya, Africa to give their newborn babies a dose of Nevirapine oral suspension within 24 hours of birth, when the fast-acting drug is most effective in reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1.

Pw 8861 Nevirapine Db

From LPS Industries, LLC (www.lpsind.com), the pouch is made from a structure that includes, from the outside-in, polyester/solventless adhesive/aluminum foil/solventless adhesive/low-density polyethylene. Total thickness is about 4 mils. The outer polyester layer is printed flexographically in two colors. LPS preferred not to identify material suppliers.

LPS converts the materials into a three-side-sealed pouch that measures roughly 3”x8”. Pouches are shipped to Seattle-based PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), an international nonprofit organization based in Seattle whose mission is to improve the health of people around the globe.

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim donates its Viramune brand of Nevirapine (NVP) in opaque high-density polyethylene bottles that contain about 30 to 35 0.6-mL doses. The oral suspension requires no refrigeration, but must be given to the infant within 72 hours of birth, ideally 24, to help prevent the transmission of HIV, which typically occurs as the baby comes into contact with the mother’s blood during labor, according to Steve Brooke, PATH’s commercialization advisor.

“Nevirapine has been in use for years,” says Brooke. “It is the ‘gold standard’ used around the world. It is the simplest, least costly, and most effective drug for preventing the maternal-to-child transmission of HIV.  So it is what the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and other organizations recommend.” Brooke explains that PATH became involved in the project through the United States Agency for International Development, the agency that funds the project that was initiated in the 2000-2001 timeframe.

Single, portable dose

The problem was that many mothers in Kenya deliver babies at home and don’t visit a clinic until the child’s first immunizations are due, several weeks after delivery. Clinics were having difficulties getting doses of NVP out to mothers. “I made a trip to Kenya and found there were nurses in some clinics who would fill the small amount of Nevirapine in an oral syringe—no needle—then wrap it in foil and give it to the woman to take home,” recalls Brooke. “Others would wrap it in tape or they would make use of whatever materials they had. Clinics were afraid of passing out this dose to give to the mothers to take home because they didn’t feel it was protected.

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