HIV-prevention drug to be available for $40 a year from 2027

GENEVA - Generic versions of a groundbreaking injectable HIV-prevention drug should be available for $40 (R692.15) a year in more than 100 countries from 2027, Unitaid and the Gates Foundation said Wednesday.

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.

Marketed under the brand name Yeztugo by California-based Gilead Sciences, lenacapavir currently costs around $28,000 a year in the United States.

Far cheaper generic versions are therefore "really critical for the scale-up of prevention of HIV," Carmen Perez Casas, Unitaid's strategic lead for HIV, told AFP in an interview.

"Now, with this product, we can end HIV."

In October last year, Gilead announced that it had signed licensing deals with six generic drugmakers to produce and sell the world's first long-acting pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in poorer countries

Unitaid, an international health agency, said Wednesday that a partnership had been established with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHA) and Wits RHI to provide the drug at an annual cost of $40 per person across 120 nations starting in 2027.

"The product is going to be at the beginning manufactured in India," Perez Casas said.

"But we also are working towards regional production in the future."

The Gates Foundation also announced Wednesday that it had entered into a similar partnership with Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero.

"Scientific advances like lenacapavir can help us end the HIV epidemic, if they are made accessible to people who can benefit from them the most," Trevor Mundel, head of global health at the Gates Foundation, said in a statement.

Since 2010, global efforts have helped slash the number of new HIV infections by 40 percent, but UNAIDS data shill shows 1.3 million people contracted HIV in 2024.

Pending the arrival of the new generic versions, another agreement between Gilead and the Global Fund aims to help provide affordable access to the drug in lower-income countries.

Washington confirmed earlier this month that it would honour a 2024 agreement to back that project, sparing it from President Donald Trump's foreign aid blitz.

The initiative, which follows the US approval of Yeztugo in June, aims to deliver the first units to at least one African country by the end of this year.

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