Activists Challenge Pharma Company Gilead Over HIV Drugs – Global Issues
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MUNICH, Aug 02 (IPS) – Campaigners and experts want an HIV intervention touted as “the closest thing to an HIV vaccine” to be made available as quickly and cheaply as possible to all who need it as its maker faces protests over its price.
Activists led a massive protest during the 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS2024) in Munich last week as research was presented showing lenacapavir – a drug currently sold by pharmaceutical company Gilead for more than USD 40,000 a year as an HIV treatment – could be sold USD 40 per year as a form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to help prevent HIV infection.
Civil society groups working on prevention, as well as experts and senior officials from international organizations fighting the AIDS virus, urged the company to ensure that it will be priced so that it can be affordable in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which averages 95 percent. of HIV infection.
“It is no exaggeration to call lenacapavir a game changer. It could be life-changing for some residents. We need to see it widely produced and provided in all low and middle income countries to people who need it,” said Dr. Helen Bygrave, chronic diseases consultant for Medecins sans Frontiere’s (MSF) Access Campaign.
During the event, data from a study of lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injection, was presented. The results of the study were announced by the pharmaceutical company Gilead last month and showed that the drug provided 100% protection to more than 5,000 women in South Africa and Uganda.
Many experts and community leaders who help deliver HIV interventions who spoke to IPS described the drug as a true “transformation”, not only incredibly effective but also easy to deliver—the ultimate key to combating the stigma associated with HIV prevention interventions for others. communities—compared to other interventions, such as Oral PrEP.
But they warned that there could be access challenges, with cost expected to be a major barrier.
Lenacapavir is currently only approved as an HIV treatment at a price of USD 42,000 per person per year.
Although as an intervention PrEP is expected to be sold at a very low price, the abstract presented at the conference showed that it could cost as little as USD 40 per year for every patient.
In a statement issued following the protests, Gilead said it was developing a “strategy to enable broad, sustainable global access” but that it was too early to provide details on pricing.
Critics say Gilead has been wrong in its statement — the company has spoken of a commitment to reach prices in high-incidence, resource-limited countries rather than low- and middle-income countries — and there are fears that the price of eventually making PrEP available will be so high that it would put it out of reach in countries struggling hardest with the epidemic. HIV.
“Cabotegravir, a two-monthly injectable form of PrEP, is currently purchased by MSF in low-income countries for USD 210 per person per year. We would not expect to be more than that, and would hope it would be more in the ‘ballpark’ of USD 100 per person per year,” said Bygrave.
He added that “questions have been asked of Gilead about its pricing for lenacapavir, and the company has been very vague in its responses.”
“Civil society needs to keep pressuring Gilead on this issue because, without that pressure, I don’t trust Gilead to do the right thing,” said Bygrave, who participated in protests at a conference against Gilead’s pricing.
Other speakers at the conference laid out a series of demands for the firm.
Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, called on Gilead to grant generics manufacturers licenses to produce it affordably through mechanisms such as the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a UN-backed program that negotiates generics deals between drug innovators and pharmaceutical companies. standard.
Others, like keynote speaker Helen Clark, Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said such interventions should be considered “a global common good, and ways must be found to make them accessible to all.”
“The pharmaceutical industry has been the beneficiary of public research investment. In the case of HIV/AIDS, it has benefited from a combination of scientists and community partners that have encouraged investment in R&D and treatment. “Prima facie, the idea that companies can make a lot of profit from it and not share the intellectual property created is wrong,” he said.
Others go further, accusing certain pharmaceutical firms of participating in the creation of a de facto global two-tier system of drug supply.
“Companies must share their medicines. We will not accept discrimination in obtaining medicines when the lives of those living in the Global South are not considered to have the same value as those in the North,” Archbishop Dr Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Cape Town and HIV advocate, said at a UNAIDS press event during the conference.
Some of those working with vital statistics emphasized the need to go through all the necessary approvals and put the price of lenacapavir at an affordable level as soon as possible to save lives.
“It is exciting to have new things and to find new tools that are important in the fight against HIV. But the question is: how long will it take to get them to the people who need them? Until then, it’s just a beautiful announcement—like a beautiful picture hanging there that you can see but not touch. We need to give communities the support and tools they need to do their important work,” Anton Basenko, Chairman of the Board of the International Union of People on Drug Abuse (INPUD), told IPS.
The calls came as campaigners emphasized the unique potential of lenacapavir. It is not only its amazing performance, but also its relative ease and understanding of delivery, experts are happy about it.
Stigma against HIV prevention, such as Oral PrEP, which involves taking pills every day, has been identified as a major barrier to the uptake of HIV interventions in some regions.
Some HIV health experts at the conference told IPS that they have seen cases of women leaving clinics with bottles of pills, and when they hear them smacking the bottle, they throw them in a bin outside the clinic because the noise will tell others that they are taking the pills and leave them open to possible discrimination, or even gender-based violence .
“The lack of oral PrEP and proper uptake among women and girls is caused by many factors, such as stigma and concern about being seen with a large bottle of pills. What if your partner sees a bottle and starts asking if you are cheating on him or something?
“A woman can go and inject lenacapavir several times a year and no one will even think about taking pills every day and still go on with their lives. This drug can change lives completely. I would definitely take it if it was available,” Sinetlantla Gogela, an HIV advocate from Cape Town, South Africa, told IPS.
Concerns about affordable access to lenacapavir in low- and middle-income countries come against a backdrop of record debt levels in poor countries, which experts say could have a devastating impact on the HIV epidemic.
A recent report by the campaign group Debt Relief International showed that more than 100 countries are struggling to pay their debts, which has led them to cut investments in health, education, social protection and climate change measures.
Speakers at the conference warned repeatedly that these bills must be addressed to ensure that HIV programs, whether they include lenacapavir or not, continue. Many have called for immediate debt relief in countries.
“Africa’s debts need to be restructured so that countries can get the medicines they need,” said Byanyima.
“Reduce debt; It is suffocating the countries of the southern part of the world, lacking what they need for life. Let’s breathe, please,” said Makgoba.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
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