AIDS Prevention Deal Excludes Much of Latin America
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today announced a deal with Gilead Sciences to purchase lenacapavir, a breakthrough long-acting injection for HIV prevention, for low- and middle-income countries. Gilead states that many Latin American countries with high HIV burdens “are not covered by this agreement.” Most Latin American countries and other upper middle-income countries also were excluded from Gilead’s license authorizing generic production. Public Citizen is working with more than 100 health groups across Latin America to protest this exclusion and support affordable access to HIV prevention.
Peter Maybarduk, Access to Medicines director for Public Citizen, released the following statement:
“Partial solutions don’t cut it against global epidemics. Gilead still wants to control supply, keep prices secret and exclude Latin American countries with high HIV burdens. But countries have the power to introduce affordable generics on their own authority and overcome the patent barrier to scale up PrEP. Many millions more people will need access than Gilead yet makes possible. We can’t let funding cuts and pharma power stand in the way of this historic opportunity to end AIDS as a public threat.”
Guillermina Alaniz, director of Global Advocacy & Policy at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, released the following statement:
“Pharmaceutical greed should never dictate who gets to prevent HIV and who doesn’t. We’re seeing countries in Latin America systematically excluded from access to medical innovation – not because of science, but because of profit. That’s why we’re standing with Public Citizen and other allies to demand fair pricing, legal reform, and a regional push to break Gilead’s monopoly on lenacapavir.”