Access in Low- and Middle-income Countries
Gilead recognises that the development of innovative medicines for life-threatening diseases is only one aspect of improving public health. We also invest in programs that promote prevention, strengthen healthcare infrastructure, and provide education and financial support to the most vulnerable communities around the world.
By enabling access to medicines, challenging assumptions, fighting stigma and collaborating with partners worldwide, we work not simply to treat some of the world’s most challenging public health threats – but to eliminate them.
Our Commitment to Access
We partner with governments and communities to help reduce the disproportionate disease burden in low- and middle-income countries. Our Gilead Patient Solutions (GPS) team operates in countries across the world where millions of people are living with HIV and viral hepatitis and are at risk of developing invasive fungal infections. We champion innovative solutions that improve patient outcomes, promote health system sustainability, strengthen infrastructure and uplift communities.
Treating Viral Hepatitis
More than 300 million people worldwide are living with chronic hepatitis B or C, which can lead to serious and life-threatening liver damage, including liver cirrhosis (scarring), liver cancer and the need for liver transplantation.
While viral hepatitis is one of the leading causes of preventable death globally, many people with the disease have not received high-quality medical treatment and many people with the disease have not been diagnosed.
We have focused our research and development efforts on helping to transform the outcomes for people infected by chronic viral hepatitis. We’re collaborating with regional partners and generic licensees to introduce our HCV and HBV therapies in low- and middle-income countries, prioritising communities with the greatest disease burden.
We’re also going beyond medicine to help address the disparities impacting people living with viral hepatitis. Through our corporate giving programs, we partner with community organizations working to ensure people around the world receive high-quality care and services.
Addressing the HIV Epidemic
We've long been a leader in HIV treatment and prevention, helping transform HIV from an almost fatal condition to a chronic one that can be well managed.
In low- and middle-income countries, we’ve put innovative programs and partnerships in place to expand global access to our HIV medicines. Each year, millions of treatments for HIV, along with hepatitis B, are made available in low- and middle-income countries through our voluntary licensing programs. But in order to end the HIV epidemic, our approach must evolve to ensure everyone who needs or wants our therapies can access them. We're developing access strategies for many of our next-generation HIV prevention therapies that account for the unique challenges of distributing and integrating them into care.
Responding to COVID-19
Drawing on our long history in HIV and hepatitis, we knew that partnership would be an effective and resilient approach to drive access to treatment in places with fewer resources.
We established multiple voluntary licensing agreements for our COVID-19 treatment with generic manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries as early as May 2020, even before the U.S. FDA granted full regulatory approval for our treatment.
Our antiviral was made available to more than 13 million adult and paediatric patients across the world – over 60% of whom were living in low- and middle-income countries. We also provided our licensing partners with technical assistance and manufacturing support to rapidly scale production.
As we continue to supply COVID-19 therapy to people in need, we’re looking ahead to prevent and treat viruses capable of causing future pandemics.
Eliminating Invasive Fungal Infections
We champion innovative solutions that assist in; improving patient outcomes and uplifting communities worldwide. Our work to address invasive fungal infections began more than three decades ago when we launched a partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat visceral leishmaniasis (VL), and to provide our treatment at a no-profit price in low- and middle-income countries.
Access Partnerships
We work with a network of regional distributors to enable access to our portfolio of medicines in low- and middle-income countries. We also collaborate with voluntary licensees, the Medicines Patent Pool and other stakeholders to expand access to our medicines around the world. Together, we're relentlessly working to address critical health inequities worldwide.