The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to use a new HIV injection (HIV).
The injection is given twice a year and bears the name “YazTogo”, produced by “Gilead Sciences”.
The company described the decision as a “historic day” in a battle that lasted for decades against the virus.
The new property, whose scientific name is “Lenacapavir”, is a major development in the field of prevention, as it showed an event that exceeds 99.9% in preventing the transmission of infection between adults and adolescents, which makes it more like a high -strength protective vaccine.
Although there are drugs to prevent HIV for more than a decade – known as prevention before exposure or “Prep” – most of them require eating daily pills, which limited their effectiveness at the global level. As for the new property, it depends on one injection every six months, which enhances the opportunities for commitment and increases the preventive effect.
Giliad Company revealed the results of two large -scale clinical experiences. The first included more than two thousand women in sub -Saharan Africa and achieved 100% protection of infection, superior to the traditional “Truvada” traditional.
In the second experiment, which included men, only two of more than two thousand participants were recorded – 99.9%.
Despite some side effects such as headache, nausea and topical reactions at the injection site, the results of the experiments were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, while the Science magazine chose the Linakapphir as “Public Performance” for 2024.
Despite scientific enthusiasm, experts and observers expressed concern that the high price of the drug may limit its spread. It is estimated that the cost of launching “Yazogo” in the American market may reach 25 thousand dollars annually, while the property is currently sold – in its therapeutic use – compared to 39 thousand dollars a year, with expectations for a decrease in the price for preventive use.
Activists in the field of public health called on the “Gillead” company to reduce the price sharply. Professor Andrew Hill of the University of Liverpool said that the preventive vaccine can be produced in huge quantities and sold at a price not exceeding $ 25 annually per person, warning that “even high -income countries will not be able to generalize its use if its price remains above 20 thousand dollars annually.”
For her part, Winie Piaanima, Deputy Secretary -General of the United Nations, praised the development, but stressed the necessity of pricing it in a fair and available way for all, saying: “Linakapter may be the tool we need to control new injuries, but only if it is provided to everyone.”
