Latin America Still Waiting for Lenacapavir HIV Prevention Shot

The two-dose-a-year HIV preventive lenacapavir, hailed as a potential game-changer, is currently supplied in limited quantities to nine African priority states but has not reached any Latin American country, despite regional participation in its clinical trials. At the Rio de Janeiro International HIV/AIDS Conference, demonstrators criticized Gilead Sciences for retaining a global monopoly and refusing the drug to Brazilians and other Latin Americans.

The Global Fund and PEPFAR have agreements to provide the medication to two million low- and middle-income patients through 2028, with plans to expand to three Caribbean nations by year-end, yet Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Peru remain excluded from generic production. Experts argue the drug could be manufactured for as little as $40 annually, contrasting sharply with Gilead's US price of $28,000 per patient. Brazilian Health Minister Alexandre Padilha offered to pay up to 19 times higher than prices given to comparable economies, but Gilead declined. Calls are growing for Brazil to use compulsory licensing, a tool it employed in 2007 for another antiretroviral, though the minister currently favors continued negotiations.