Global Fund, US boost commitment to provide HIV drug access

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WASHINGTON — The US, in partnership with an international group fighting AIDS, said on Tuesday it would expand its efforts to provide access to an HIV-prevention injection to reach an additional one million people.

The announcement brings to three million the total number of people the US State Department, along with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, hopes to reach by 2028.

Initial deliveries of the drug lenacapavir were aimed at nine countries, and the expansion will attempt to reach people in 12 more, including the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Indonesia, Morocco, Rwanda and Thailand, the Global Fund said in a statement.

Lenacapavir, which is taken twice a year, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 99.9 percent, making it functionally akin to a powerful vaccine.

Generic versions of lenacapavir are expected to be available from 2027 at around $40 per year in more than 100 countries, through agreements by Unitaid and the Gates Foundation with Indian pharmaceutical companies.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, has been used for over a decade to prevent HIV but its reliance on a daily pill has limited its impact on global infections.