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Humanity is closer to stopping HIV, and the biggest obstacle is the price of the drug that will do it

Lenacapavir, an antiviral drug already approved as a treatment that costs $40,000 in the US, prevented 100% of infections in a study on African women with just two injections a year. UNAIDS is asking the drugmaker Gilead to reduce the cost in order to make it more widely available

Four decades after the emergence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), humankind is closer to having the tool to put an end to an epidemic that has caused 40 million deaths and incalculable suffering. Lenacapavir, an antiviral drug from the pharmaceutical company Gilead that has already been approved as a treatment of HIV infection in adults, has been shown to be able to prevent 100% of new infections in women if used preventively with a simple administration route: two subcutaneous injections per year.

The Phase 3 trial data was presented on Wednesday at the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference, which is being held these days in Munich (Germany) and published in The New England Journal of Medicine. It is not a vaccine, but it is very similar. And it was astonishingly effective in a study among cisgender women (women assigned female at birth) in Africa. New trials are now investigating whether the molecule, as expected, will achieve the same results in other groups.

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by Anonymousreply 12October 29, 2024 11:20 PM
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by Anonymousreply 1October 29, 2024 2:08 AM

Ugh, why did the article have to use the term "cisgender"-- ruined it for me. Either way good news.

by Anonymousreply 2October 29, 2024 2:12 AM

This is bad, we need to stop people from having gay sex! They need to face consequences!

by Anonymousreply 3October 29, 2024 2:15 AM

This makes me so happy

by Anonymousreply 4October 29, 2024 2:15 AM

How did they do the study? Select 2,000 women who they thought would get HIV?

I don't understand how the research would work for a study - in terms of selecting the control and studied group?

by Anonymousreply 5October 29, 2024 2:55 AM

Of course the right wants to end funding for HIV both in Africa and the US

by Anonymousreply 6October 29, 2024 3:01 AM

"Cost" is just a shorter word for "WHAT PHARMA WANTS TO CHARGE AND/OR SQUEEZE FROM YOUR BONES"

Fuck Gilead. They should have some humility AND some desire to be human.

by Anonymousreply 7October 29, 2024 6:54 AM

r5 They had and have several trials going on, called PURPOSE trials, to study the efficacy of the drug for different groups, some more and some less prone to getting HIV. One group receives twice-yearly lenacapavir and one group once-daily oral Descovy. Additionally, a third group is assigned once-daily oral Truvada. Because effective PrEP already exists, there is a consensus in the medical research community that it's unethical to have a placebo group. So the drug is being tested against existing drugs.

[bold]PURPOSE 1[/bold] (Phase 3 trial, results published earlier this year) cisgender women and adolescent girls aged 16-25 in South Africa and Uganda, two countries where HIV is absolutely rampant.

[bold]PURPOSE 2[/bold] (Phase 3 trial, results published now): cisgender men, transgender men, transgender women, and gender non-binary individuals in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and the United States who have sex with men. As you can see, "regular gays" were captured in this sample.

[bold]PURPOSE 3[/bold] (future Phase 2 trial): cisgender women in the US

[bold]Purpose 4[/bold] (future Phase 3 trial): drug users in the US

by Anonymousreply 8October 29, 2024 12:24 PM

Oh, and they're gonna be pumping out generics in 120 high-incidence, resource-limited countries as soon as the regulatory approvals come through.

Gays in western countries – or rather their insurance companies – will have to pay a small fortune for it, however. Which is fair, if you ask me, because a WeHo queen can't be charged the same as some poor girl in South Africa.

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by Anonymousreply 9October 29, 2024 12:27 PM

[quote] Gays in western countries – or rather their insurance companies – will have to pay a small fortune for it, however. Which is fair, if you ask me, because a WeHo queen can't be charged the same as some poor girl in South Africa.

Why not, r9? Why can’t Gilead charge the same regardless of country?

by Anonymousreply 10October 29, 2024 12:52 PM

if the worst happens on US election day, I have long predicted antiretroviral treatments for HIV/AIDSHIV drugs will be one of the first to be dropped from the “protected” drug classes. MAGA don't like us and want us dead and gone.

by Anonymousreply 11October 29, 2024 10:54 PM

^ They have already proposed letting employers not cover the cost of prep because of their "religious values"

by Anonymousreply 12October 29, 2024 11:20 PM
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