Lenacapavir, a new injectable HIV treatment, was administered to women in South Africa and Uganda with near 100% efficacy
According to the results of a new study published on Wednesday, an injection administered twice a year for treat AIDS It is 100% effective for prevent new infections in the women.
The researchers reported that there were no infections in women young men and girls who received the injections in a study of about 5,000 in South Africa and Uganda. In a group that was administered daily preventive pillsapproximately 2% finished contracting HIV of infected sexual partners.
“Seeing this level of protection is amazing,” said Salim Abdool Karim. about injections. This is the director of a research center AIDS Center in Durban, South Africa, who was not involved in the research.
Injections manufactured by American pharmacist Gilead and sold under the name Sunlenca are approved in the US, Canada, Europe and other countries, but only as HIV treatment. The company stated that it is waiting for the results of tests carried out in men before seeking permission to use it as protection against infection.
Remove all the stigma
Los results obtained in women were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and discussed in a conference on AIDS held in Munich.
Gilead paid for the study and some of the researchers are employees of the company. Due to surprisingly encouraging results, the study was stopped ahead of time and offered to all participants injection, also known as lenacapavir.
Although there are other forms of prevent HIV infectionsuch as condoms or daily pills, its systematic use It has been a problem in Africa. In the new study, only 30% of participants who received Truvada or Descovy, Gilead preventive pillsthey actually took them, and that number decreased over time.
The prospect of a twice-yearly injection is “pretty revolutionary news” for our patients, says Thandeka Nkosi, who helped direct the investigation of Gilead at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Masiphumelele, South Africa.
“It offers participants the opportunity to choose and remove all the stigma surrounding taking pills” to prevent HIV. Experts working to stop the spread of AIDS are excited about injections from Sunlenca, but they are concerned that Gilead has not yet agreed on an affordable price for those who need them most.
The company has stated that it will follow a “voluntary licensing program”, suggesting that only a select number of manufacturers of generics will be able to manufacture them.
“Gilead has a tool what could change the trajectory of the epidemic of HIV,” said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of the Geneva-based UN AIDS agency.
He said his organization urged Gilead to share the patent of Sunlenca with a UN-backed program that negotiates extensive contracts that allow generic drug manufacturers manufacture cheap versions of drugs for the poorest countries around the world. As HIV treatmentthe drug costs more than $40,000 (36,842 euros) a year in the US, although what individuals pay varies.
Women are the most in need of lasting protection
Dr Helen Bygrave, from Doctors Without Bordersstated in a statement that the injections could “reverse the epidemic if they were given available to countries with the highest index of new infections”.
He urged Gilead to publish a price for Sunlenca that was affordable for all countries. In a statement last month, Gilead said it was too early to say how much Sunlenca would cost for prevention in poorer countries.
Dr. Jared Baeten, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Gilead, stated that the company was already in contact with generic manufacturers and understood the “great importance of us acting quickly.”
ADVERTISINGAnother HIV preventive injection, Apretude, which administered every two months, is approved in some countries, including Africa. It sells for about 180 dollars (166 euros) per year per patient, which is still too expensive for most developing countries.
Byanyima pointed out that among the people who most need lasting protection are women and girls victims of domestic violence and gay men in countries where relationships between people of the same sex are penalized.
According to UNAIDS, 46% of new HIV infections in the world in 2022 occurred in women and girls, who had three times more likely of contracting HIV than men in Africa.
Byanyima compared the news about Sunlenca with the discovery decades ago anti-AIDS drugs that could cause HIV infection it will no longer be a death sentence to become a chronic disease.
ADVERTISINGAt that time, South African President Nelson Mandela suspended patents to allow broader access to drugs; The price subsequently dropped from about 10,000 dollars (9,210 euros) per patient per year to about 50 dollars (46 euros).
1.3 million infected per year
Olwethu Kemele, a health worker at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, predicted that injections could increase the number of people who attend the prevention services of HIV and stop the spread of the virus.
He said that young women often hide the pills to avoid questions of boyfriends and family. “This makes it difficult for the girls to continue,” she said. In a report on the state of the global epidemic Published this week, UNAIDS says that by 2023 there will be fewer infected people for HIV than at any time since the late 1980s.
Worldwide, HIV infects about 1.3 million people each year and kills more than 600,000, mainly in Africa. Yes ok progress has been made in Africa Significantly, HIV infections are increasing in Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
ADVERTISINGIn other research presented at the AIDS conference, Andrew Hill of the University of Liverpool and his colleagues calculated that once Sunlenca production is expanded To treat 10 million people, the price should drop to about $40 (37 euros) per treatment. Hill said it is essential that health authorities have access to Sunlenca as soon as possible. “It’s the closest thing to an HIV vaccine,” he said.
