It is called the closest thing to a vaccine that the world has ever come close to AIDS virus
The shot twice a year It was 100% effective in preventing HIV infections in a study in women, and results published Wednesday show it worked nearly as well in men.
drug dealer Gilead It said it would allow cheap, generic versions to be sold in 120 poor countries with high HIV rates, mostly in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. But he has rejected almost all of them Latin Americawhere rates are much lower but increasing, the world is becoming concerned that a critical opportunity to stop the disease is being lost.
“This is far superior to any other prevention method we have, it’s unprecedented,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. He credited Gilead with developing the drug, but said the world’s ability to stop AIDS rested on its use in at-risk countries.
in one the report On World AIDS Day on Sunday, UNAIDS said the number of people who died from AIDS last year – about 630,000 – was the lowest since it peaked in 2004, suggesting the world is at a “historic crossroads” and could end. the epidemic
A drug called lenacapavir is already sold under the brand name Sunlenca in the US, Canada, Europe and elsewhere to treat HIV infections. The company wants to apply for approval soon to use Sunlenca for HIV prevention.
Although there are other ways to protect against infection, such as condoms, daily pills, vaginal rings and bimonthly shots, experts say Gilead’s biennial shots would be particularly useful for those often afraid to seek care, including gay men, sex workers and young women.
“It would be a miracle for these groups because it means they have to come to a clinic twice a year and then they are protected,” said UNAIDS’ Byanyima.
Such was the case with Luis Ruvalcaba, a 32-year-old man from Guadalajara, Mexico, who participated in the latest published study. He said he was afraid to ask for the daily contraceptive pills provided by the government, fearing that he would be discriminated against as a gay man. Since he participated in the study, he will continue receiving the shots for at least another year.
“In Latin American countries, there is still a big stigma, patients are ashamed to ask for pills,” said Dr. Alma Minerva Pérez, who recruited and enrolled a dozen volunteers at a private research center in Guadalajara.
It is not yet known how the shots will be available in Mexico through the country’s health system. Health officials declined to comment on plans to buy Sunlenca from the public; Daily HIV prevention pills became available for free through the country’s public health system in 2021.
“If the possibility of using generics has been expanded, I think Mexico can join,” said Pérez.
Byanyima said other countries involved in the study besides Mexico were also excluded from the generics deal, including Brazil, Peru and Argentina. “Now to deny that drug is absurd.” he said
In a statement, Gilead said it has an “ongoing commitment” to helping enable access to HIV prevention and treatment options where the need is greatest. Of the 120 countries eligible for the generic version, 18 countries account for 70% of the world’s HIV burden, mostly in Africa.
The drugmaker said it is also working to establish “quick and effective ways” to reach all people who need or want HIV prevention lenacapavir.
On Thursday, 15 advocacy groups from Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala and Colombia wrote to Gilead demanding that generic Sunlenca be made available in Latin America, citing a “disturbing” disparity in access to new HIV prevention tools and infection rates. they were going up
While countries including Norway, France, Spain and the US have paid more than $40,000 a year for Sunlenca, experts estimate that it could be produced for $40 per treatment once generic production is expanded to 10 million people.
Dr. Chris Beyrer, director of the Global Health Institute at Duke University, said it will be very useful to have Sunlenca available in the hardest-hit countries in Africa and Asia. But he said rising HIV rates among groups that include gay men and transgender people are “a public health emergency” in Latin America.
Hannya Danielle Torres, a 30-year-old trans woman and Mexican artist who was in the Sunlenca study, said she hoped the government would find a way to provide the shots. “Mexico may have some of the richest people in the world, but it also has some of the most vulnerable people living in extreme poverty and violence,” Torres said.
Another drugmaker, Viiv Healthcare, also left out most of Latin America when it shot down generics for HIV prevention in about 90 countries. Sold as apretude, bimonthly shots are about 80% to 90% effective at preventing HIV. It costs about $1,500 a year in middle-income countries, beyond what most can afford.
Asia Russell, executive director of the Health advocacy group the voidhe said that with more than new HIV infections worldwide each year, established prevention methods are not enough. He has called for countries like Brazil and Mexico to issue “compulsory licenses,” a mechanism by which countries suspend patents during a health crisis.
It’s a strategy some countries adopted for earlier HIV treatments when AIDS drugs were discovered in the late 1990s and early 2000s. recently, Colombia Tivicay was granted its first compulsory license for HIV treatment in April without approval from its drugmaker, Viiv.
Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, an AIDS expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, said he had never seen a drug as effective as Sunlenca in preventing HIV.
“Now the missing piece in the puzzle is how we get it to everyone who needs it,” he said.
