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A newly approved drug gives almost total protection against getting HIV. The FDA approved lenacapavir last week. Patients need just two injections of it a year to get that protection, but as NPR's Jonathan Lambert explains, its high price could limit its power to stop the HIV pandemic.
JONATHAN LAMBERT, BYLINE: HIV researchers were stunned last year when the data from two clinical trials came out. In one study of over 5,000 women in South Africa and Uganda, there were zero HIV infections in those who got the drug. Another study of more than 3,000 people found just two cases of HIV among the lenacapavir cohort. Here's Onyema Ogbuagu, an infectious disease researcher at Yale who ran one of the studies.
ONYEMA OGBUAGU: We found that the efficacy for lenacapavir was just, like, ridiculously high. These are just, like, unheard of numbers.
LAMBERT: There are existing drugs that are really good at preventing HIV, but these drugs come in the form of daily pills, which can have a drawback.
OGBUAGU: Even though the pills work, the Achilles' heel of that strategy is that people were not adhering to taking the pills as prescribed. And of course, that affects the efficacy in preventing HIV.
LAMBERT: For example, one study found that skipping doses dropped the effectiveness of daily pills to just 26% in some populations. So the prospect of getting near-total protection from just two annual injections could go a long way towards preventing the 1.3 million new HIV cases each year.
OGBUAGU: It's really exciting to see where we can go from here with this new tool. Of course, the concerns would be access.
LAMBERT: The current list price is about $28,000 a year. Gilead Sciences, the company behind lenacapavir, told NPR that it priced the drug in line with existing options but is working to provide lower-cost versions. Andrew Hill, a pharmacology researcher from the University of Liverpool, was part of an analysis that suggested the drug could be a lot cheaper.
ANDREW HILL: We've calculated that it can be mass-produced for $25 per person per year.
LAMBERT: That's roughly in line with the price point that lower-income countries can afford. UNAIDS, a United Nations organization, has called on the company to lower its price. If that happens, there are still two potential obstacles. Other countries need to follow the FDA and approve lenacapavir, and even then, the Trump administration's drastic foreign aid cuts could limit the reach of this powerful new preventative drug.
Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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