“Lenacapavir, a twice-yearly, long-acting HIV prevention tool, represents one of the most promising advances towards ending AIDS as a public health threat to date. Gilead has an obligation to ensure that access is not restricted by where people live, who they are, or what their country can pay. That this drug’s development was supported by public funding — and through the trust of communities who participated in clinical trials, many of them in countries now excluded from affordable access — makes the current restrictions even more unconscionable.” — Tirana Hassan Chief Executive Officer, MSF USA and Dr. Tom Ellman Director, Southern Africa Medical Unit, MSF Southern Africa
On February 18, 2026, MSF met with the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences to request the purchase of a limited supply of lenacapavir for use in MSF’s humanitarian programs around the world. In that meeting, Gilead refused to sell lenacapavir directly to MSF, a position it has maintained across multiple requests over several months.
Breakthroughs only matter when they reach the people who need them most, and when they change lives. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling on pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences to sell lenacapavir directly to organizations ready to purchase it, and to take additional concrete steps toward ensuring global access to this breakthrough in HIV prevention. Read MSF’s open letter to the company, Prevention should not be a privilege.
