Price for AIDS medication could drop to $40.
Treatment with the AIDS medication Lenacapavir from Gilead currently costs approximately annually $40,000 per patient. However, scientists estimate that the price could drop to around $40 with the approval of generic versions. The condition: Gilead must agree to a generic version.
The price for this promising AIDS medication could, according to estimates from numerous international experts, drop from currently approximately annually $40,000 per patient to just roughly $0.04 with the approval of generic versions. Lenacapavir from the US Pharmaceutical company Gilead could potentially bring a turning point in the fight against the immune deficiency disease AIDS.
Pharmacologist Andrew Hill from the University of Liverpool and his colleagues have therefore calculated the potential cost reduction through a generic version. Lenacapavir needs to be injected only twice a year. The application is therefore less burdensome than the daily intake of tablets. In addition, the medication is also being tested for preventive use against HIV infection.
According to a recently published, preliminary study, the success rate is 100%. Lenacapavir could therefore potentially "work like a vaccine" to prevent the transmission of HIV. With widespread use, "HIV transmission could effectively be stopped," said Hill during the World AIDS Conference in Munich. People with an increased infection risk, such as sex workers, could protect themselves from the medication in the future, Hill stated during the conference.
Pressure on Gilead grows
With a price of annually over $40,000 ($36,700 Euro) per patient, most people cannot afford the treatment. Hill and his colleagues calculated, based on raw material prices and conversations with large generic manufacturers in China and India, how affordable a generic product could be sold. They assumed that ten million patients would be treated. Their calculations are a so-called preprint study, meaning they have not yet been reviewed by multiple experts independently in the peer-review process.
Approximately ten years ago, Hill and his colleagues predicted that a Gilead medication for Hepatitis C, which was priced at $84,000 per patient at the time, could be sold as a generic for $100. "Now, it costs less than $40 to treat Hepatitis C," Hill highlighted. Gilead is facing significant pressure from non-governmental organizations and influential figures to allow generic versions of its AIDS medication Lenacapavir.
Millions have no access to effective treatment
"Gilead has an opportunity to save the world," added she. The US company assures that it has been in regular discussions with governments, NGOs, and other actors in the fight against AIDS in the past few months about how "the largest possible number" of people can gain access to the Lenacapavir treatment.
From the company's press office, it was stated that Gilead is still waiting for the results of the Phase III clinical study regarding the use of Lenacapavir for HIV prevention. Therefore, it is still "too early" for statements about a large-scale application of the substance. Globally, approximately 30 million HIV-infected individuals receive antiretroviral therapy. However, approximately ten million affected individuals have no access to effective treatment.
The cost reduction potential of a generic version of Lenacapavir for treating HIV and AIDS, as estimated by pharmacologist Andrew Hill and his colleagues, could bring the price down from the current annual rate of $40,000 per patient to just $0.04. Pressure on Gilead to make the medication more affordable and accessible to a wider population continues to grow, with non-governmental organizations and influential figures urging the company to allow generic versions of their AIDS medication.
