An end to AIDs could be on the horizon – but only if drug makers cut costs

Photo Courtesy of Canva.

Back in 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – commonly known as the CDC – started reporting a heightened number of pneumonia cases and lesions brought on by cancer. This spike was out of the ordinary for a number of reasons – the main one being that these diseases were popping up specifically in gay men.

It took the CDC a year and a half, but they finally designated this condition as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDs. Two years after that, scientists identified the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, as the cause of AIDs.

It’s been nearly 45 years since the onset of the AIDs epidemic, and we’ve come a long way. HIV is no longer a death sentence – there’s a number of medications on the market that can be taken regularly to significantly lower one’s risk of developing HIV and AIDs.

This class of drugs is commonly referred to as “pre-exposure prophylaxis,” shortened to the nickname PrEP. Lots of individuals, especially gay men, take PrEP shots as a part of their regular health routine.

In mid-June, the USDA approved a highly effective new PrEP medication called lenacapvir, manufactured by the company Gilead Sciences. This is considered to be the closest manufactured drug to an HIV vaccine, and has shown 99% efficacy in preventing HIV infection. Scientists are saying this drug could potentially mark the end of AIDs globally.

But, that can’t happen if people don’t have access to the drug. Lenacapvir has a BIG price tag, and its drug developers are – as is often the case – putting profit at the forefront. On top of that, Trump administration budget cuts are leading to lack of support for widespread access to the drug.

To learn more about the current status of the AIDs epidemic, the potential power of this new drug, and the current fight to make it widely accessible, KGNU’s Jackie Sedley spoke with two public health experts: Peter Maybarduk, the Access to Medicines Director at Public Citizen, and Jeremiah Johnson – the Executive Director at PrEP for All.

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