The US will buy 2 million doses of an HIV prevention drug for low-income
countries
[September 05, 2025]
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is purchasing enough doses of a new
twice-a-year HIV prevention shot to share with up to 2 million people in
poor countries by 2028, the State Department announced Thursday.
Gilead Sciences had already announced it would sell that supply of the
protective drug lenacapvir at no profit for use in low- and
middle-income countries that are hard-hit by HIV. The question was who
would buy and distribute them after the Trump administration slashed
foreign aid earlier this year – forcing closures of health clinics and
disrupting HIV testing and care in many countries.
Under Thursday’s move, the U.S. will purchase the doses under the PEPFAR
program and work with governments in hard-hit countries on how to
distribute them. The priority will be to protect pregnant or
breastfeeding women, said Jeremy Lewin, a State department senior
official.
Lewin said the program will be a collaboration with the Global Fund,
another international program that funds HIV treatment and prevention
efforts but wouldn’t disclose how much the U.S. was investing.
“We’re hoping, with the Global Fund, to help 2 million people get on the
medication over the next three years but could potentially see more,” he
said.
There are more than 30,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. every year and
1.2 million people are living with the virus. Worldwide there are 1.3
million new infections annually and nearly 40 million people living with
the virus.
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Demonstrators protesting against the Trump administration's
withholding of federal funds for the PEPFAR program to combat
HIV/AIDS march near the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
 Many experts say lenacapavir is the
most powerful option yet for what’s called PrEP – using preventive
medicines to guard against sexually transmitted HIV. Unlike daily
pills that people may forget, each lenacapavir shot offers
protection for six months. In two groundbreaking studies with people
at high risk, it nearly eliminated new infections.
The drug already has been approved for use in the U.S. and Europe.
In March, the head of the U.N. AIDS agency urged the Trump
administration and Gilead to make the preventive shots available
worldwide for millions.
Gilead has signed agreements with generic drug makers to produce
low-cost versions of the shot for poor countries, mostly in Africa,
Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. The doses provided at-cost for up
to 2 million people in those countries was intended to be a stopgap
until the generics are available.
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