HIV prevention drugs to be made available cheaply in 120 countries

HIV prevention drug from American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences - Photo: MedtechAlert

Gilead said it has signed agreements with six manufacturers to manufacture and sell generic versions of Lenacapavir in 120 "high-incidence, resource-limited" countries, most of which are low-income countries, according to the Guardian on October 4.

Lenacapavir, given twice a year, showed strong HIV prevention. It prevented infection in a trial involving women and children in South Africa and Uganda. In addition, Lenacapavir provided near-complete protection in another trial involving mainly men in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and the United States.

The US has approved Lenacapavir for HIV treatment at a price of $42,250/year under the brand name Sunleca. Many researchers say the drug could be produced for $40/year (about VND990,000).

The US drugmaker has been under pressure to make Lenacapavir available as quickly and cheaply as possible globally, and Gilead said it would provide support until manufacturers could begin offering generic versions, with priority registration in 18 countries with high HIV rates, including Botswana, South Africa and Thailand.

Additionally, Gilead said it will begin filing for global approval of Lenacapavir for HIV prevention later this year.

However, critics say the drugmaker has excluded many of the countries with the highest HIV prevalence from the list of 120. Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni, of the Medicines for All Alliance, has criticised the decision to arrange licences directly (through agreements with manufacturers) rather than through the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).

Dr Kamal-Yanni said the deal had strings attached that could make it difficult for people in excluded countries to access the drug. “Behind the seemingly large number of countries being included, Gilead is leaving out upper middle-income countries where the number of new cases is highest, with almost all of Latin America left out,” Dr Kamal-Yanni said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said that Lenacapavir with only 2 injections per year could be a "game changer" if everyone who could benefit from this drug could access it.

Ms Byanyima said 41% of new infections were in upper middle-income countries. UNAIDS is still waiting for Gilead to announce the exact price of the generic drug Lenacapavir.

The drugmakers that signed deals with Gilead are Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Emcure Pharmaceuticals and Hetero Labs (all of India) as well as Viatris' unit Mylan in the US, Eva Pharma of Egypt and Ferozsons Laboratories of Pakistan.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thuoc-ngua-hiv-se-duoc-cung-cap-gia-re-tai-120-nuoc-20241004150527755.htm