National Aids Commission (NAC) and health campaigners have welcomed the approval of a twice-a-year HIV prevention injection with calls for the medicine to be affordable to ensure wider access.
World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday announced the approval of lenacapavir as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. Lenacapavir needs to be injected twice a year and offers sustained protection for HIV-negative individuals, according to WHO.
In an interview yesterday, NAC chief executive officer Beatrice Matanje said that the approval is a huge milestone because the current injectable option is administered every two months while oral PrEP is taken every day which makes adherence very difficult.
“Our call is that the manufacturers should reduce the price of the shot so that all people that require the medicine should have access,” she said.
Malawi Health Equity Network executive director George Jobe, speaking in a separate interview, echoed Matanje’s call stating that development partners should assist developing countries to have access to the life-saving medicine.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that lenacapavir, made by American biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, is pegged at $28 218 (about K49 million) per person per per year
Meanwhile, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAids) said lenacapavir could be the tool to bring new infections under control if made available to everyone who could benefit.
UNAids executive director Winnie Byanyima said in a statement that the joint programme has seen research that lenacapavir can be produced for just $40 (K70 000) per person per year, falling to $25 (about K43 000) within a year of roll out.
She said: “If this game-changing medicine remains unaffordable, it will change nothing. I urge Gilead to do the right thing. Drop the price, expand production, and ensure the world has a shot at ending Aids.”
In its statement on Thursday, WHO said guidelines for injectable lenacapavir will be released on July 14 2025 during the International Aids Conference in Kigali, Rwanda.
Data from NAC contained in its 2024 Global Aids Monitoring Report for Malawi show that about one million people were estimated to be living with HIV in the country as of 2023.
The data further show a decline in new HIV preventions from around 111 000 in 1992 to an estimated 13 000 in 2023.
