A chance to end the global HIV epidemic: low-cost preventative drug to roll out on 2027

Well, let’s h get all the information on that with Dr. Philip Junatin who joins us from Geneva. He’s the executive director at the international health agency. Philipe, great pleasure to have you with us on the program today. Um, it’s the first time I think that a lot of our viewers will be hearing about Len Capavir. Tell us more about what this preventive drug is and the cheaper versions that are set to enter the market. Thank you, Jenny. Thank you for having me. I think it’s really a historic time. It’s the first time that we have a a medicine that can prevent HIV among the women. Um we call it prep, prevention of HIV. So we have been working for a lot of time on on oral prep. So it’s the medicine that you you can take by the mouth but uh every day. But in this case is two injection a year, one injection every six months and which as you said uh 100% efficient to prevent HIV and one important point is that it was very difficult to have a tool that works for women and young girls in Africa that represent uh quite an important uh part of the the epidemia of HIV. and this is working for the for them. It’s a first tool to prevent HIV among women in Africa. That’s why it’s so important. So the drug is used to protect people from from catching the virus. But can it also be used to treat those who already have it? Yes, it will be a second step. So we uh we are working on um different type of medicines but uh Lena cap can be one of them and just to highlight the price that we negotiate with Dr. Ready with uh the Clinton Foundation uh $40 represent the same price as the treatment one peel a day is also the price for the prevention oral prevention. So that’s why we were shooting for $40 and we hope that people will have access to this drug um let’s say in six months instead of one year. So we want to have also the speed in term of access. And Philipe, how can we expect this roll out to be carried out and how uh accessible will it be to people who can benefit the most from them? Because some experts have estimated that around uh 40 million people would need to take preventive drugs in subsaharan Africa for example. There’s obviously you know huge preparation needed for rapid introduction and scale. Yes. So this is the challenge. So, one piece of it is the price because if it’s too expensive, uh there is no way that people will get it because it will be too expensive. $40 is the right price even if we can maybe think that we will have a a better price in the coming years. But what is important is really to shape the program to reach out the people u in particular women who can have access to that. So that’s the kind of work that we will do um as united but with our partner CHI global fund PEPA and countries to make sure that we can have the program who support access for in particular young girls and women. Speaking of young girls and women, you know, are there concerns regarding safety or privacy and even stigma that could create obstacles in the roll out and implementation especially for women in uh low-income countries? Yes, that’s the the challenge and that’s why it’s um it it has been very difficult for oral prep because you have to carry on a lot of pills and of course there is this this question about stigma. That’s why in term of clinical efficacy it works but also in social efficacy in a way the fact that uh it’s very discreet. So you have a shot nobody knows you have two shots a year. this is much more easier um for uh many of youn girls and women. So that’s also the advantage and that’s why it’s a breakthrough also in term of accessibility of this leap. Now the the new deals uh don’t include some middle and high income countries including you know Brazil that together account for around uh 20% of new infections. What is the reason for this and is that something that could change in the future? We hope to make progress in that. But uh you know the first agreement uh was under the license uh that was uh that Gilead has given for six uh generic manufacturers. So they define the scope of of countries and um they have made the decision not to include some countries like Brazil. We hope we know that there are ongoing discussion between Brazil and Gilead. Gilead is the one who invented Lav. uh so we hope that they can find a solution or we can uh also uh look if the deal we have uh for the generic version can be in a way another part of the discussion uh with Brazil and Gilead. So we hope that yes also in this country like Brazil uh this will be affordable. So fortunately, you know, Lena Capavia has been spared from US President Donald Trump’s uh foreign aid blitz, so to speak. But can you tell us more about the state of funding to some other urgent health priorities like malaria and and tuberculosis for instance? So as you know as you mentioned uh well there is a a global um challenge in term of financing the what we call global health in particular uh HIV TB and malaria some part of PEPAR against HIV AIDS in the US have been reinstalled and we are working with them in particular in access to Linda capir among women in particular pregnant Um it is less clear uh for malaria and TB. Um I think that there will be discussion also at the congress. So again we have been working uh closely with uh Europeans, France, UK um and others uh Japan, Korea and we hope to see uh the move in in the US. So we are anyway um not waiting for anybody and try to uh do the best with what we have and support uh in particular African country to fight HIV, TB and malaria. All right, Dr. Philip Junatan, it’s great to speak to you. Thank you so much for your time today.

Generic versions of a groundbreaking injectable HIV-prevention drug should be available for $40 a year in more than 100 countries from 2027, according to Unitaid and the Gates Foundation. The two organisations have entered into separate agreements with Indian pharmaceutical companies to produce cheaper generic versions of lenacapavir — a twice-yearly injection shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 99.9 percent — for low- and middle-income countries. Details by Unitaid executive directorn Philippe Duneton.
#HIV #health #epidemic

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X: https://f24.my/Xen
Bluesky: https://f24.my/BSen and Threads: https://f24.my/THen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen

5 comments

Comments are closed.