Public figures from various sectors and industries signed an open letter on Tuesday calling on British pharmaceutical company ViiV Healthcare to ensure equitable global access to its newly developed HIV prevention drug cabotegravir (CAB-LA), a long-acting injectable.
The letter recognizes the remarkable achievement of the scientists working at ViiV Healthcare to develop the breakthrough drug, which acts as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to protect against HIV, but argues that the discovery would be for naught if the price of the treatment was too high for the majority of the world population.
Signatories include Nobel Prize for Economics winner Joseph Stiglitz, former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, singers Adam Lambert and Olly Alexander, and UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, as well as key public health stakeholders.
“HIV prevention drugs have disproportionately reached people in affluent countries, while millions of those most in need around the world have limited access,” the letter said. “Unless CAB-LA is widely available and affordable, it will deepen the inequalities that both fuel and exacerbate the AIDS pandemic. Access to life-saving science cannot and must not depend on passports or money in your pocket.”
What makes the new drug so revolutionary is that it offers long-term protection with regular injections, unlike traditional oral PrEP, which comes in pill form and must be taken daily to maintain protection. When medications require daily care, there is a higher chance of missing doses, either for financial reasons or other factors such as ‘pill fatigue’. But if these long-term injections are only available to people in wealthy countries, their profound benefits will be wasted, the letter said.
Although significant progress has been made in efforts to contain the AIDS pandemic, the disease remains one of the greatest public health threats worldwide, the letter said.
“There are 1.5 million new infections every year and one person still dies of AIDS every minute,” it says.
The majority of new cases and deaths occur in low-income countries that have little access to preventive medication and sexual health funding. Africa is the region hardest hit by the health crisis, accounting for two-thirds of global cases, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, 1 in 25 adults in Africa is infected with the virus.
Great strides have been made in the past to expand access to HIV medicines. In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies struggled to keep newly developed HIV drugs from being available at reasonable prices, depriving tens of millions of people of vital health care. Since then, prices have been lowered and patents relaxed. Today, around 20 million Africans can access HIV treatment for less than $100 a year.
These efforts have saved an estimated 16.5 million lives, the letter said. But more than 10 million people still lack access to adequate medicines for HIV/AIDS, an inequality that causes 680,000 preventable deaths each year.
The groundbreaking CAB-LA development could both contain the spread of the pandemic and protect millions of people from contracting the virus.
But only if an equitable approach based on public health is followed. ViiV has pledged to its credit that it will make the drug available to low-income countries at a “charitable price” until a generic becomes available, according to the Guardian.
The authors call on the ViiV to take four specific actions:
1. Announce a lower price for the long-acting preventive injectable ARV, CAB-LA, as close as possible to other HIV prevention drugs (PrEP). The current best PrEP option is approximately $60 per person per year. Make the price public and transparent, and include the cost of the associated syringe.
2. Quickly license to manufacture generic versions of this long-acting ARV through the Medicines Patent Pool. Licensed in all low- and middle-income countries on a non-exclusive basis with a wide geographic scope for both treatment and prevention.
3. Share know-how and technology. Enable producers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern and Central Europe and beyond to seek transfer and begin production.
4. Commit to producing enough to meet demand until generic manufacturers go online.
Organizations like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will be key to achieving these goals because of its extensive presence in countries around the world, which enables it to work with healthcare organizations and ensure the proper delivery of medicines.
Ahead of its September replenishment, the Global Fund aims to mobilize $18 billion for 2024-2026 to save 20 million lives, reduce mortality from the three diseases by 64% and halt more than 450 million infections.
The open letter, which wants to create impulses and public awareness for equal access, also sees the 24th International AIDS Conference on July 27th and 28th as an opportunity to anchor these goals.
“ViiV can show the world that we can continue to accelerate progress against AIDS by ensuring the best new prevention and treatment technologies reach the millions of people who need them most – to stop the virus and live long lives.” with HIV,” the letter reads.
“New HIV prevention and treatment options are always exciting; The introduction of long-acting antiretrovirals could change the game, speeding the end of AIDS and positively impacting efforts against future pandemics.”
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