AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) denounces Gilead Sciences for once again excluding Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) from affordable access to a groundbreaking HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir. Today’s announcement of a pricing and procurement deal between Gilead and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria leaves most countries in the region out, forcing them to negotiate individually and in secrecy.

“Once again, Latin America and the Caribbean have been pushed to the margins of progress,” said Dr. Patricia Campos, AHF Bureau Chief for Latin America and the Caribbean. “While we applaud efforts to expand access elsewhere, our region is left to fend for itself—facing rising HIV rates, shrinking foreign aid, and now the added burden of opaque pricing negotiations with a pharmaceutical giant that prioritizes patents over people.”

The Global Fund’s deal with Gilead represents a potential step forward for some low- and middle-income countries. AHF acknowledges and deeply values the Global Fund’s life-saving work, especially during this period of economic uncertainty and reductions in foreign aid. However, the terms of this new agreement underscore the persistent inequalities in access to medical innovation—inequalities driven not by science but by corporate profit motives.

According to Gilead’s own announcement, many Latin American countries with high HIV burdens “are not covered by this agreement.” These countries were also excluded from the company’s earlier licensing arrangement for generic production of lenacapavir, leaving them at the mercy of Greedy Gilead’s closed-door pricing policies and monopolistic control.

AHF strongly opposes secret pricing agreements and reiterates its call for transparency, equity, and public accountability in global access to HIV prevention.

In solidarity with Public Citizen and more than 100 civil society organizations across the region, AHF urges governments in Latin America and the Caribbean to:

• Strengthen legal frameworks to enable compulsory licensing of essential medicines;
• Challenge evergreening patents through patent oppositions;
• Declare long-acting PrEP drugs like lenacapavir as medicines of public interest, unlocking pathways for affordable generic competition.

Countries like Colombia, which recently issued a compulsory license for the HIV medication dolutegravir, are setting an important precedent. Other governments in the region must urgently follow suit to overcome pharmaceutical barriers and scale up prevention.

“The science is ready. The tools are available. What’s missing is equitable access—and that is something governments can and must act on now,” said Guillermina Alaniz, AHF Director of Global Advocacy & Policy, based in Argentina. “Together with Public Citizen and a growing coalition of civil society allies, we are building momentum across Latin America to challenge unjust monopolies and ensure lifesaving HIV prevention reaches everyone—no matter where they live.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a global non-profit organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to over 2.3 million people in 48 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. We are currently the largest non-profit provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the world. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare

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