UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said there is a need to connect technological innovation with access for all. “In the late 1990s and early 2000s, even after antiretroviral medicines were proven to be effective and rolled out in high-income countries, 12 million people on this continent still died waiting for those drugs. We must do better with long-acting treatments. We urge the companies producing these medicines to expand their generics licenses”.
Leaders at the 55th Programme Coordinating Board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have called for universal access to long-acting HIV medicines for those who would benefit, aiming to usher in a new era in the AIDS response.Over the last two years, scientific breakthroughs have introduced a new class of anti-HIV medications with long-acting effects.
These innovative treatments allow people at risk of HIV infection, as well as those living with the virus, to take medicines less frequently. The latest advancement, lenacapavir, is injected just twice a year, offering a promising option for long-term HIV care.
Recent
studies have shown these medicines to be among the most effective ever
developed.
One study showed zero new infections among young African women using
long-acting prevention drugs, while a study among key populations showed them
more effective than oral medicines. Another study highlighted at the session
held on Tuesday evening showed encouraging results using long-acting HIV
treatment in low- and middle-income countries.
The innovations
are coming at a time when despite existing HIV prevention tools, more than a
million people are still getting newly infected globally. In 2013 for instance,
UNAIDS data shows an estimated 1.3 million people newly contracted HIV.
Now in their
latest statement, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said there is a need
to connect technological innovation with access for all. “In the late
1990s and early 2000s, even after antiretroviral medicines were proven to be
effective and rolled out in high-income countries, 12 million people on this
continent still died waiting for those drugs. We must do better with
long-acting treatments. We urge the companies producing these medicines to
expand their generics licenses”.
On her part,
Dr Cissy Kityo, Executive Director of the Joint Clinical Research Centre,
Uganda, a leading scientist working on trials of long-acting medicines said the
technology of long-acting antiretrovirals is remarkable. She said the evidence
is now clear that long-acting medicines will be game-changers for both prevention
and treatment but added that while the science is in, the question is how well
it will be used.
Dr Sylvia
Vito, the African head of EVA Pharma, a company in Egypt licensed to produce a
generic version of lenacapavir said they intend to move fast on product development,
production, and eventual registration. “It is our
intention that high-quality long-acting generic ARV medicine will not only be
available, but made accessible and affordable as well. We intend to beat the
current standard of care in HIV treatment and prevention by going further to
improve on the current options for patients in low and middle-income countries”,
she said in a statement shared on Tuesday night.
Ever since, the results of the clinical trials gave a green light, experts all over the world
have been discussing equitable access and the production of generics has been at
the center of these discussions. So was the same at the board meeting as speakers
noted the obstacle that much of Latin America, a region of rising HIV
infections, has been excluded from companies’ voluntary licenses for generic
versions. This is despite Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Argentina participating in
clinical trials.
Currently, however,
Gilead Sciences, the company producing lenacapavir has not yet announced the
price of its product for use as PrEP but it costs around $40,000 per person per
year in the United States where it is used for treatment. However, experts have estimated that it could
be produced and sold for $40 per person per year, in line with UNAIDS estimates
for sustainable pricing in low- and middle-income countries.
While Lenacapavir
is one of those sought-after new technologies, speakers at the meeting
highlighted the importance of choice and widening access to other options such
as the two-monthly injectable cabotegravir and a three-month dapivirine
vaginal ring, as well as new technologies currently in the pipeline including a
once-a-month pill may move into phase 3 trials next year.
The UNAIDS
Programme Coordinating Board brings together governments, civil society, and the
United Nations to help guide the HIV response. UNAIDS sees the development of
long-actings as a vital disruptive innovation.
