Evolving our approach to access in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Malaysia

ViiV Healthcare is fundamentally committed to increasing access to dolutegravir (DTG) in line with WHO guidelines as part of our mission to leave no person living with HIV behind. To continue to meet the ever-changing needs of people living with HIV around the world and following on from extensive conversations with key stakeholders including governments, NGOs and members of the HIV community, we have continued to take steps to evolve our approach to access.

At the end of 2019 we took a first step by enabling GSK, our distributor in certain upper middle-income countries, to offer a reduced price for our DTG-based medicines in these countries. In November 2020, we were pleased to announce a new voluntary licence agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).

This novel voluntary licence agreement aims to increase affordability by allowing generic manufacturers to supply generic DTG-based medicines at a significantly reduced price compared to the local prices at the time of this agreement, in turn enabling greater access to DTG for people living with HIV in four upper-middle-income countries (UMICs): Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Malaysia.*

Most recently, MPP announced sublicense agreements with pharmaceutical companies, Hetero and Viatris (through its subsidiary Mylan) to manufacture and supply generic DTG-based medicines to these four countries as part of our new voluntary licence agreement. Click here to find out more about this announcement from MPP.

Providing an innovative and sustainable approach to access for our HIV medicines is a priority for us and, together with the MPP, we are pleased to be able to offer a solution to enable greater access to treatment and increased affordability, while supporting continued investment in research and development of much needed innovative medicines to support better long-term outcomes for people living with HIV.

As a company 100% focused on the needs of people living with HIV, making our medicines more widely available to patients regardless of income or where they live is central to both our access to medicines strategy and a core element of our corporate strategy.

Click here to learn more about our access to medicines strategy and commitments.

* As of 01 July 2020, Algeria is classified by the World Bank as a Lower Middle-Income Country and will now be added to ViiV Healthcare’s existing DTG voluntary licence.