Blocking humanitarian organizations from accessing a medical breakthrough puts vulnerable people across the world in danger.
In an open letter published today, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called on the US pharmaceutical corporation Gilead Sciences to immediately sell the organization the game-changing and highly effective HIV prevention medicine, lenacapavir, for use in its medical programs worldwide. Despite multiple requests, the company has refused to sell lenacapavir directly to MSF.
Lenacapavir is an injectable version of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) that only needs to be administered two times per year — something that’s especially valuable for people who face barriers accessing daily or frequent medication, like those in the humanitarian settings in which MSF operates. About 1.3 million people worldwide contract HIV every year.
“Blocking humanitarian organizations from accessing a medical breakthrough puts vulnerable people in danger,” said Dr. Tom Ellman, director of MSF’s Southern Africa Medical Unit (SAMU).
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Despite Gilead’s public claims that it can expand production of lenacapavir to meet needs, the company has refused requests from MSF to purchase a limited supply for use in our programs. Instead, it has directed MSF to acquire lenacapavir through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, even though they have a fixed and insufficient supply of the drug — enough for up to 2 million people over three years, which is well below the global need.
Gilead must decide whether it prioritizes protecting people or protecting control and profit. – Dr. Tom Ellman, director of MSF’s Southern Africa Medical Unit
Gilead controls the production and distribution of lenacapavir. So far, only a handful of countries of the 18 eligible under the Gilead and Global Fund agreement have received doses of lenacapavir. Some countries where MSF works are not even eligible to receive doses through the Global Fund due to restrictions put in place by Gilead. Meanwhile, the medicine is widely purchasable in wealthier countries like the US.
“Gilead must decide whether it prioritizes protecting people or protecting control and profit,” Dr. Ellman said. “This is a chilling echo of the policies we saw in the 1990s when antiretrovirals were provided to those in the Global North while the rest of the world was denied access and many lives were lost to HIV/AIDS.”
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MSF has requested an urgent follow-up meeting with Gilead by April 13 to reconsider whether they will sell lenacapavir directly to MSF, at what price it will be sold, and when MSF would start receiving the supply.