Will miracle HIV drug go on the PBS?

From The Saturday Paper, 5 July 2025:

Standing ovations are rare at scientific conferences. Infectious diseases physician Professor Sharon Lewin, director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, still gets “tingly” at the memory of about 10,000 attendees surging to their feet at the 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich a year ago.

The results that inspired the ovation were of the PURPOSE 1 clinical trial, which found that a six-monthly injectable antiretroviral drug called lenacapavir was 100 per cent effective at preventing HIV infection.

On June 18 this year, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir for HIV prevention. Drug regulators around the world – including Australia – are likely to follow suit.

Lenacapavir has been used as a treatment for drug-resistant HIV infection since 2022. The discovery that it is also effective at preventing HIV infection with just two treatments a year is being heralded as a game changer in the fight against HIV. Read more (paywall).