Long-lasting HIV prevention drug too slow to reach Africa, activists say

Melb Simiyu, an HIV prevention officer at a support organization for sex workers here, says most of her clients have asked when a drug called CAB-LA will become available. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2021, the HIV prevention drug could drastically reduce infections among marginalized groups like the one she works with.
But even though a trial in Uganda and six other sub-Saharan African countries provided data key for FDA’s approval, Africa, still the part of the world hardest hit by HIV, may face a long wait to get the drug at an affordable price.
On 27 May, CAB-LA’s developer, Viiv Healthcare, made a formal commitment to issue a voluntary license for the drug, an injectable form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), to the Geneva-based Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). If the two reach an agreement, MPP could broker deals with generic manufacturers to produce cheap versions of CAB-LA for low- and middle-income countries. But it may take years before those generics become available, and activists accuse Viiv of dragging its feet, which the company denies. Zambian HIV activist Kenly Sikwese, who coordinates the African Community Advisory Board, says equitable access in sub-Saharan Africa should have been guaranteed before people from the region were recruited for clinical trials. “Viiv’s got to be serious about making the product accessible to everyone who needs it,” Sikwese says.