Manufacturer’s plans for equitable access to twice-yearly PrEP under fire

While plans for global access to lenacapavir, the twice-yearly injectable PrEP product which demonstrated extraordinary efficacy last year, have progressed unusually quickly, critics say that the arrangements are riddled with inconsistencies and will not achieve Gilead Science’s stated goals of “ensuring broad, sustainable global access to lenacapavir for PrEP” and of “ending new HIV infections around the world”. Critics say that if the voluntary licenses to generic manufacturers are not improved, then countries should explore compulsory licensing instead.

Competing perspectives are presented in a pair of viewpoint articles published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Dr Jared Baeten, senior vice president of clinical development at Gilead – and formerly an academic researcher running HIV prevention studies in African countries – articulates the position of the company which has developed lenacapavir. The critiques come from Drs Andrew Hill, Mark Siedner, Cassandra Fairhead, and Francois Venter, who conducted their analysis with support from the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition.

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