A recent analysis has shown that the long-acting injection for HIV prevention – lenacapavir – could be made for as little as $25 per person per year, potentially transforming global efforts to end the HIV epidemic, reports the European Aids Treatment Group (EATG).
Lenacapavir, administered just twice a year, has been shown to reduce HIV transmission to nearly zero, but the exorbitant cost remains a major barrier to access, with Gilead Sciences currently pricing it at more than $28 000 per person annually in the US market.
The new analysis, says Joseph Fortunak, lead author and Professor at Howard University, along with co-author Andrew Hill (University of Liverpool) and a global team of researchers, emphasises the potential for lenacapavir to be a highly cost-effective intervention in the fight against HIV.
It also demonstrates that generic production costs are dramatically lower, paving the way for broader accessibility if patent barriers are overcome. ….more