CITY OF MEXICO It has been dubbed the closest thing the world has ever had to an AIDS viral vaccine.
According to statistics released Wednesday, the twice-yearly vaccination prevented HIV infections in women 100% of the time and almost as well in men.
According to drugmaker Gilead, it will permit the sale of low-cost, generic versions in 120 underdeveloped nations with high HIV rates, primarily in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. However, it has left out almost all of Latin America, where rates are far lower but still rising, raising concerns that the world is passing up a vital chance to halt the epidemic.
According to UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, this is so much better than any other preventative strategy we have that it is unprecedented. Although she gave Gilead credit for creating the medication, she stated that its usage in at-risk nations is crucial to the global effort to eradicate AIDS.
According to a research released on Sunday in honor of World AIDS Day, the estimated 630,000 AIDS-related deaths last year were the fewest since the epidemic’s height in 2004. This suggests that the world is at a turning point in history and has the opportunity to put an end to the epidemic.
In the United States, Canada, Europe, and other countries, the medication lenacapavir is already marketed under the Sunlenca brand to treat HIV infections. The business intends to apply for approval to use Sunlenca for HIV prophylaxis shortly.
The Gilead twice-yearly vaccinations, according to experts, would be especially helpful for marginalized individuals who are frequently afraid to seek care, such as homosexual men, sex workers, and young women. Other methods of infection prevention include condoms, daily medications, vaginal rings, and bi-monthly shots.
According to UNAIDS Byanyima, it would be a miracle for these populations because it would just require them to visit a clinic twice a year to be protected.
Luis Ruvalcaba, a 32-year-old guy from Guadalajara, Mexico, who took part in the most recent published study, was one such individual. He claimed that because he was gay, he was scared to request the government-provided daily preventive medications for fear of facing discrimination. He will continue to receive the shots for at least another year because he participated in the trial.
Dr. Alma Minerva Prez, who gathered and enrolled a dozen study volunteers at a private research institution in Guadalajara, stated that there is still a great deal of stigma in Latin American countries and that patients are embarrassed to ask for the drugs.
It is currently unknown how readily accessible the vaccinations will be in Mexico through the nation’s healthcare system. Regarding intentions to purchase Sunlenca for its inhabitants, health officials declined to comment; in 2021, the nation’s public health system made daily HIV prevention medicines publicly available.
“I have faith that Mexico can join if the possibility of using generics has opened,” Prez remarked.
According to Byanyima, Brazil, Peru, and Argentina were among the other nations that participated in the study but were left out of the generics agreement, in addition to Mexico. It is unacceptable to deny them the medicine now. “I said,” she said.
Gilead stated in a statement that company remains committed to facilitating access to HIV preventive and treatment alternatives in areas with the highest need. 18 of the 120 countries that qualify for the generic version are primarily African nations, which account for 70% of the global HIV burden.
According to the pharmaceutical company, it is also attempting to set up quick and effective channels to reach everyone who need or desires lenacapavir for HIV prophylaxis.
Citing the concerning disparity in access to new HIV prevention measures at a time when infection rates were on the rise, fifteen advocacy groups from Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala, and Colombia wrote to Gilead on Thursday, requesting that generic Sunlenca be made available in Latin America.
Although the United States, Norway, France, and Spain have spent over $40,000 year for Sunlenca, experts have estimated that once generic manufacture reaches 10 million people, it might be made for as little as $40 each treatment.
The availability of Sunlenca in the most affected nations in Asia and Africa will be extremely beneficial, according to Dr. Chris Beyrer, head of Duke University’s Global Health Institute. However, he said that there was a public health emergency in Latin America due to the increased HIV prevalence among groups, such as gay men and transgender people.
The 30-year-old trans woman and artist Hannya Danielle Torres, who participated in the Sunlenca study in Mexico, expressed her hope that the government will figure out a method to supply the vaccinations. According to Torres, Mexico is home to some of the wealthiest individuals on the planet, but it also contains some of the most vulnerable, who endure tremendous poverty and violence.
When Viiv Healthcare, another pharmaceutical company, permitted generic versions of their HIV preventive vaccine in around 90 countries, it also excluded the majority of Latin America. The bi-monthly injections, marketed under the name Apretude, have an 80% to 90% HIV prevention rate. In middle-income nations, they cost around $1,500 year, which is more than most people can afford.
With over 1 million new HIV infections worldwide each year, Asia Russell, executive director of the advocacy group Health Gap, stated that current preventative strategies are insufficient. She called on nations like Mexico and Brazil to implement compulsory licensing, a system that suspends patents in the event of a health emergency.
When AIDS medications were initially developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, certain nations adopted this approach as a treatment for HIV. More recently, in April, Colombia granted its first-ever mandatory license for the essential HIV therapy Tivicay without the consent of its manufacturer, Viiv.
According to Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, an AIDS specialist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, he has never seen a medication that seems to be as successful in preventing HIV as Sunlenca.
“How we get it to everyone who needs it now is the missing piece in the puzzle,” he remarked.
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