WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department announced a plan on Thursday to bring Gilead Sciences Inc’s drug lenacapavir to market “at cost” in high-burden HIV countries in an effort to reach two million people over three years.
The company will offer the long-acting HIV prevention drug to the Global Fund and the U.S. government’s PEPFAR program without profit, government and company officials said at a news briefing.
Gilead Sciences and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said in July they had finalized plans to supply the drug to low-income countries, despite the absence of funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, an initiative aimed at addressing the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Jeremy Lewin, senior State Department official for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom, would not say how much the U.S. government was providing.
“Gilead is very generously offering us a product at no cost, so we’re not going to give away exactly what their cost per dose is, but we’re grateful to them for offering it at a price that makes this possible. The U.S. commitment is significant,” he said.
The medication, which is given in a twice-yearly injection, has significant advantages for breastfeeding women and pregnant mothers, he said.
The State Department has agreements with 12 countries that will receive doses of the drugs but is not identifying them at this time, Lewin said.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Leslie Adler and Diane Craft)
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