South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said during a launch event in Secunda, South Africa, that starting Friday the drug is available at 360 public health facilities across six provinces and 24 "high-burden districts" as the country aims to reach three million people over the next three years, News.Az reports, citing UPI.
Because Lenacapavir is a twice-annual injection, as opposed to other daily oral drugs to prevent HIV, it is easier for many people to adhere to -- making it easier to prevent spread of the virus -- Gilead, the drug's manufacturer, has found in phase 3 trials.
"The launch of Lenacapavir marks a turning point in our nation's fight against HIV," Ramaphosa said during his remarks.
"To us, Lenacapavir is not just a medicine or a drug," he said. "To us, it represents a major turning point in South Africa's national story."
The launch is the first of several that Gilead has worked on in countries battling HIV that will see local manufacturing of generic versions of the drug to help bring down costs and make it more readily available, the company said in a press release.
South Africa has roughly 7.8 million people living with HIV, and about 170,000 new infections per year -- the largest HIV burden in the world -- which is why Gilead's phase 3 trials included many sites there and it is launching the drug there.
"South Africa is at the heart of global efforts to end HIV," Daniel O'Day, chairman and chief executive officer of Gilead Sciences said in the release.
"With the country's launch of lenacapavir, there is now an opportunity to rapidly accelerate progress," O'Day said.
Ramaphosa noted that the rollout is also part of South Africa's growing pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, which is part of the country's work to pursue the African Union's goal for 60% of the continent's health products to be produced there by 2040.
