A shot of this drug twice a year can help eliminate AIDS

The shoot twice a year it was 100% effective in preventing HIV infection in women’s studies, and results published Wednesday show it worked just as well for men.

Drug maker Gilead it said it would allow cheaper, generic versions to be sold in 120 poor countries with HIV – mainly in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. But it has removed almost everything Latin Americawhere prices are very low but increasing, causing worldwide concern that the most important opportunity to eradicate the disease is missing.

Winnie Byanyima, the director of UNAIDS said: “This is so much better than any other prevention method we have, it is unprecedented. He praised Gilead for developing the drug, but said the world’s ability to end AIDS depends on its use in countries at risk.

In a report UNAIDS said that the number of people who died from AIDS last year – about 630,000 – was the lowest since it reached its peak in 2004, meaning that the world is now “at the crossroads of history” and has a last chance. plague.

A drug called lenacapavir is already sold under the brand name Sunlenca to treat HIV in the US, Canada, Europe and elsewhere. The company wants to get approval soon for Sunlenca to be used to prevent HIV.

Although there are other methods of protection against infection, such as condoms, daily pills, genital rings and twice a month shots, experts say Gilead’s twice-yearly shots may be especially helpful for marginalized populations who are often afraid to seek care, including gay men, homosexuals and young women.

“It would be a surprise for these groups because it means that they will only have to appear twice a year at the hospital and then they will be protected,” said Byanyima of UNAIDS.

This was the case for Luis Ruvalcaba, a 32-year-old man from Guadalajara, Mexico, who participated in a recently published study. He said he is afraid to ask for the daily birth control pills provided by the government for fear of being stigmatized as a gay man. Because they participated in the study, they will continue to receive the photos for another year.

“In Latin American countries, there is a lot of stigma, patients are ashamed to ask for pills,” said Dr. Alma Minerva Pérez, who recruited and enrolled twelve study volunteers at a private research center in Guadalajara.

How much of this shot will be available in Mexico through the country’s medical system is not yet known. Health officials declined to comment on any plans to buy Sunlenca from its citizens; daily HIV prevention pills were made available free of charge through public health services in the country in 2021.

“If the opportunity to use generics opens up, I am confident that Mexico will join,” Pérez said.

Byanyima said countries other than Mexico that participated in the study were also removed from the generics agreement, including Brazil, Peru and Argentina. “At the moment they deny that drugs are incompatible.” he said.

In a statement, Gilead said it “has an ongoing commitment to help find HIV prevention and treatment options where they are most needed.” Of the 120 countries that are eligible to receive generics, 18 are predominantly African countries that account for 70% of the global HIV burden.

The drugmaker said it is also working to develop “quick, effective ways to reach all people who want or need lenacapavir in HIV prevention.”

On Thursday, 15 advocacy groups in Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala and Colombia wrote a letter to Gilead, asking for generic Sunlenca to be available in Latin America, citing “dangerous” unfair access to new HIV prevention tools when the risk of infection . he was getting up.

Although countries including Norway, France, Spain and the US pay more than $40,000 a year for Sunlenca, experts estimate that it could be made for less than $40 per treatment once it expands to 10 million people.

Dr. Chris Beyrer, director of the Global Health Institute at Duke University, said it will be very useful for Sunlenca to be available in the most difficult countries in Africa and Asia. But he said the rise of HIV among groups including gay men and people living with the virus is a “public health problem” in Latin America.

Hannya Danielle Torres, a 30-year-old woman and photographer who was part of the Sunlenca study in Mexico, said she hopes the government will find a way to provide the shots. “Mexico may have the richest people in the world but it also has the most vulnerable people in extreme poverty and violence,” Torres said.

Another drug maker, Viiv Healthcare, left out many in Latin America when it allowed generics to prevent HIV from being shot in nearly 90 countries. Marketed as Apretude, the twice-monthly shot is about 80% to 90% effective in preventing HIV. They spend $1,500 a year in middle-income countries, more than most can afford.

Asia Russell, head of advocacy group Health The differenceHe said that with more than 1 million people infected with HIV worldwide every year, the prevention measures that have been put in place are not enough. He urged countries like Brazil and Mexico to introduce “compulsory permits,” a process in which countries suspend permits for health problems.

It’s an approach that other countries have followed in previous HIV treatments, including in the late 1990s and early 2000s when AIDS drugs were first discovered. Recently, Colombia granted the first mandatory approval for the major HIV treatment Tivicay in April, without approval from the drug’s maker, Viiv.

Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, an AIDS specialist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, said he had never seen a drug that seemed to be as effective as Sunlenca in preventing HIV.

“The missing piece in the puzzle now is how we get it to anyone who needs it,” he said.