Originally Published by JNJ
Harare, Zimbabwe, August 29, 2019 – Johnson & Johnson today announced that its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies has expanded the New Horizons Collaborative to Zimbabwe—a first-of-its-kind integrated approach to improve pediatric HIV care—to ensure that children and adolescents living with HIV in countries with the highest burden of pediatric HIV have access to sustainable, high-quality, and appropriate antiretroviral (ARV) therapy.
Worldwide, approximately 1.8 million children under age 15 have HIV, and almost 90% are living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with 77,000 of those in Zimbabwe. Even with access to ART, rates of treatment success for children and adolescents are consistently lower than those for adults across Africa. Children are more prone to developing drug resistance to first-line therapies with studies showing that most children failing ART have evidence of drug resistance, highlighting the urgent need for follow-on (second- or third-line) treatment regimens to which resistance has not developed.
“We’ve made tremendous progress in delivering HIV therapies to people in developing countries, overall, but we must do better for children.” said Usheema Maraj De Villiers, Senior Director, Global Public Health, Johnson & Johnson. “New Horizons is a collaborative initiative to build awareness, inspire action, and advance learning around the unmet needs of HIV treatment-experienced children and adolescents and we look forward to partnering with Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care on its roll-out in the country.”
As a multi-sector partnership the New Horizons Collaborative aims to improve and scale-up ARV therapy for children and adolescents through increased awareness and research, health systems strengthening, and improved access to HIV medicines through a donation program. Through the program Janssen provides darunavir and etravirine, including child-friendly formulations, free of charge to eligible countries with the clinical capacity and willingness to address second- and third-line pediatric HIV treatment.”
Launched in 2014 the New Horizons Collaborative includes a host of partners including Janssen, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM), Imperial Health Sciences (IHS), CIPHER-IAS, The Relevance Network Ltd, and Right to Care. Ministries of Health in SSA and those countries considered to be least developed as defined by the United Nations are invited to partner with the collaborative to improve and scale-up pediatric HIV treatment and improve access to HIV medicines in their countries. Learn more about the program here: http://www.newhorizonshiv.com.
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Johnson & Johnson’s Commitment to Make HIV History
Johnson & Johnson has a 25-year heritage of working to end the AIDS epidemic. Our Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies have brought eight HIV therapies to market. We are committed to working with our global partners in the quest to #MakeHIVhistory. To achieve this goal, we are working strategically across three key fronts: prevention, treatment and the search for a cure. Specifically, we are:
- Advancing innovative new HIV prevention tools, including a ‘global vaccine’ in development at our Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies
- Bringing new, innovative and simpler treatment options from Janssen to children, adolescents and adults living with HIV
- Exploring novel HIV cure strategies, including the potential role of therapeutic vaccines in achieving a functional cure
Additionally, the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies collaborates with numerous patient advocacy groups and supports more than 100 philanthropic programs in more than 50 least-developed countries to address the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS.
