Read online: https://healthpolicy-watch.news/one-million-more-people-to-get-hiv-mirac...
'The United States and the Global Fund will support three million people to get lenacapavir, the twice-a-year HIV injection that is almost 100% successful in preventing transmission of the virus – a million more than their previous commitment...'
COMMENT (NPW): This is clearly a good piece of news at a time that most global health news is bad. Lenacavir was approved in the US for treatment of HIV prevention in 2022, and for prevention only 9 months ago. Clearly, when there is a sense of urgency, a drug can be fast-tracked through regulation and approval. For me, this raises the question of whether and how the usual timeline that is quoted for a drug to be developed and put into practice (average 17 years) can be shortened.
Another remarkable feat was the fast-tracking of COVID-19, where genome sequencing to approval of vaccine took less than a year. The reasons for the differences in timeframe are related to urgency, political will and financial investment. But these achievements indicate that the long timeline for most interventions can also be shortened.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org