The drug that reduced HIV infection to zero in clinical trials

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement on Thursday Welcome to the clinical trial that has eliminated HIV infection for the first time in a test group using the injectable drug lenacapovir and recommended making the drug available worldwide if future trials continue to demonstrate this “incredible efficacy.”

“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.

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Lenacapovir, produced by the American pharmaceutical company Gilead. It requires just two injections a year, and trials have achieved zero infections 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.

He also said that “Competition among generic drugs can be stimulated through voluntary licensing, technology 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 like the one being tested, such as GSK, to ensure prices are low, “and it will do the same with Gilead.”

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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.

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