Drug reduces HIV infection to zero in tests – DW – 12.07.2024

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed on Thursday (11/07/2024) a clinical trial that for the first time succeeded in reducing HIV infection to zero in a test group using the injectable drug lenacapovir, and recommended it be made available worldwide if future trials continue to demonstrate this “incredible effectiveness.”

“We are extremely happy to know the results of the clinical trials,” said Michelle Rodolphe, WHO’s technical expert on HIV/AIDS, at a press conference.

Important progress in HIV prevention

Lenacapovir, made by US drug company Gilead, requires just two injections a year and has achieved zero infections in trials in a study group of cisgender women in Uganda and South Africa.

“We now look forward to the results of the trials in men, which will be released this year,” Rodolphe said, noting that Gilead has not yet announced the price of the drug or its launch on the market, but has recommended doing so as quickly as possible and at a price that is affordable for patients.

The WHO expert stressed that the response to HIV/AIDS is to guarantee treatment at the global level through agreements with manufacturers, market pressure and large-scale procurement to maintain low prices.

Similarly, he said, “generic competition can be encouraged through voluntary licensing, technology transfer and other measures to avoid intellectual property barriers.”

“Everyone should have the right to access life-saving products, no matter where they live,” the expert said, recalling that WHO has worked with pharmaceutical companies with products similar to the one currently being tested, such as GSK, to ensure that prices are low, and will do the same with Gilead.

The lenacapavir trial, results of which were presented in late June, involved 5,300 cisgender adult women and adolescents who received either the drug or Gilead’s other oral, daily preventive drugs, Descovy and Truvada.

There were no infections reported in the lenacapovir group, while infection rates ranged from 1.69 percent to 2.02 percent in the other two brands.

ee (EFE, WHO)