An injectable HIV-prevention drug is highly effective — but wildly expensive
Lencapavir, which is dosed only every six months, is highly effective at preventing HIV, but advocates worry its cost will blunt its impact.
The hotly anticipated results are in from a landmark pair of major clinical trials of a long-acting, injectable HIV-prevention drug that only requires dosing every six months.
They are sensational.
Thrilled over the news Thursday that lenacapavir was 89% more effective at preventing HIV than daily oral preventive medication among gay, bisexual and transgender people, plus previous news that the injectable drug was 100% effective in cisgender women, HIV advocates are looking to the future. They hope that if rolled out broadly and equitably, lenacapavir could be the game changer the nation badly needs.
“These kinds of results are unprecedented,” said Dr. Jared Baeten, senior vice president of virology clinical development at Gilead Sciences, which manufactures lenacapavir. “I have moments like this where I truly am speechless. What this can mean for the trajectory of the HIV epidemic is everything that all the world has imagined for years. We can actually turn off new infections.”
And yet, as battle-worn public health advocates stand on the front lines of an over four-decade effort to finally bring the U.S. HIV epidemic to heel, they find a cold, hard fact staring back at them: Lenacapavir is extraordinarily expensive.
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