{"id":6209,"date":"2026-04-02T13:45:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/msf-seeks-access-to-breakthrough-hiv-drug-but-gilead-refuses-allafrica-com\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T13:45:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:45:38","slug":"msf-seeks-access-to-breakthrough-hiv-drug-but-gilead-refuses-allafrica-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/msf-seeks-access-to-breakthrough-hiv-drug-but-gilead-refuses-allafrica-com\/","title":{"rendered":"MSF Seeks Access to Breakthrough HIV Drug, But Gilead Refuses &#8211; allAfrica.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences has come under mounting pressure after <a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202604020206.html\" target=\"_blank\">refusing<\/a> to sell its breakthrough HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir, directly to M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF), despite repeated requests.<br \/>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202604020203.html\" target=\"_blank\">open letter,<\/a> the group renewed its repeated requests to California-based Gilead to sell the drug, saying the company is blocking lenacapavir&#8217;s rollout. MSF said it had sought to purchase a limited supply of the drug for its global programmes. However, Gilead declined, maintaining its position for several months.<br \/>Lenacapavir is a long-acting injectable form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) administered just twice a year. It has been described as a major advancement in HIV prevention, particularly for vulnerable populations in humanitarian settings where access to daily medication is limited. About 1.3 million people worldwide contract HIV every year.<br \/><span class=\"country-slug\">Africa:<\/span>&nbsp;                     <a title=\"Gilead Under Fire for Not Selling HIV Drug Lenacapavir to MSF\" href=\"\/stories\/202604020266.html\">Gilead Under Fire for Not Selling HIV Drug Lenacapavir to MSF                     <\/a>                   <br \/>allAfrica,  2 April 2026<br \/>Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences has come under mounting pressure after&nbsp;refusing&nbsp;to&nbsp;sell&nbsp;its breakthrough HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir, directly to&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"\/stories\/202604020266.html\">Read&nbsp;more&nbsp;&raquo;<\/a><br \/><span class=\"country-slug\">Africa:<\/span>&nbsp;                     <a title=\"Gilead Refuses to Sell Groundbreaking HIV Prevention Drug to MSF\" href=\"\/stories\/202604020206.html\">Gilead Refuses to Sell Groundbreaking HIV Prevention Drug to MSF                     <\/a>                   <br \/>MSF, 30 March 2026<br \/>Blocking humanitarian organizations from accessing a medical breakthrough puts vulnerable people across the world in danger.&nbsp;<a href=\"\/stories\/202604020206.html\">Read&nbsp;more&nbsp;&raquo;<\/a><br \/><span class=\"country-slug\">Africa:<\/span>&nbsp;                     <a title=\"Open Letter to Gilead - Prevention Should Not Be a Privilege\" href=\"\/stories\/202604020203.html\">Open Letter to Gilead &#8211; Prevention Should Not Be a Privilege                     <\/a>                   <br \/>MSF, 30 March 2026<br \/>MSF calls on Gilead for direct access to lenacapavir, as the current rollout falls far short of the needs.&nbsp;<a href=\"\/stories\/202604020203.html\">Read&nbsp;more&nbsp;&raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Over the past four decades, HIV&#39;s ability to mutate and hide in viral reservoirs has made finding a cure difficult. <a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202602270297.html\" target=\"_blank\">Discussions<\/a> on paediatric HIV cure research have <a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202602270283.html\" target=\"_blank\">revealed<\/a> how early treatment can lead to ART-free remission, though not full viral eradication, as researchers stressed the ethical challenges of involving <\/p>\n<p>An African-led research initiative working to develop an HIV vaccine, under the aegis of The BRILLIANT Consortium, <a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202602060281.html\" target=\"_blank\">has launched<\/a> the BRILLIANT 011 trial at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Cape Town. The trial is being conducted by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and aims to tackle the specific strains of the virus circulating in Southern Africa.<br \/>With the first participant already enrolled,<\/p>\n<p>Abrupt <a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/view\/group\/main\/main\/id\/00093947.html\" target=\"_blank\">funding cuts<\/a> and deteriorating human rights conditions have disrupted HIV prevention and treatment services across dozens of countries, UNAIDS <a href=\"https:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/202511260007.html\" target=\"_blank\">has warned.<\/a><br \/>In a report to mark World AIDS Day, the UN agency said international assistance has sharply declined, with projections showing external health funding could fall by<br \/>Lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) administered just twice a year (file photo).<br \/>AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than <a href=\"\/list\/publisher\/editorial\/editorial\/type\/pub.html\">90 news organizations<\/a> and over <a href=\"\/list\/publisher\/editorial\/editorial\/type\/reg.html\">500 other institutions and individuals<\/a>, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.<br \/>Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are <a href=\"\/inhouse\/\">produced or commissioned by AllAfrica<\/a>. To address comments or complaints, please <a href=\"\/misc\/forms\/general.html\">Contact us<\/a>.<br \/>           AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa &#8211; aggregating, producing and distributing 600 news and information items daily from over 90 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC.         <br \/>Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox<br \/>By submitting above, you agree to <a href=\"\/misc\/info\/privacy.html\" class=\"tracked\" data-event-label=\"Clicked Privacy\" target=\"_blank\">our privacy policy<\/a>.<br \/>Almost finished&#8230;<br \/>We need to confirm your email address.<br \/>To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you.<br \/>There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMia0FVX3lxTE9iSVhrc2pxdzJ4b1BpOUtWbHh2WmZCaldsMndyVWVsTFNwTHhmank4Q3pLcU51UVNzN01qcXdGVnQ2UE9tOWdFVUdSZVRHTjVhdjlwUS1WUXh4cWJOUzh6dC1US3BtS3RCVDJZ?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences has come under mounting pressure after refusing to sell its breakthrough HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir, directly to M&eacute;decins Sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF), despite repeated requests.In an open letter, the group renewed its repeated requests to California-based Gilead to sell the drug, saying the company is blocking lenacapavir&#8217;s rollout. MSF said it had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}