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Twice-Yearly HIV Shot Shows 100% Effectiveness in Women

Drugmaker Gilead said it will allow cheap, generic versions to be sold in 120 poor countries with high HIV rates, mostly in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.

“In Latin American countries, there is still a lot of stigma, patients are ashamed to ask for the pills,” said Dr. Alma Minerva Pérez, who recruited and enrolled a dozen study volunteers at a private research center in Guadalajara. On Thursday, 15 advocacy groups in Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala and Colombia wrote to Gilead, asking for the generic version to be made available in Latin America, citing the “alarming” inequity in access to new HIV prevention tools while infection rates were rising. While countries including Norway, France, Spain and the U.S. have paid more than $40,000 per year for Sunlenca, experts have calculated it could be produced for as little as $40 per treatment once generic production expands to cover 10 million people.

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