Ending HIV is within reach. In order to spur it along, GSK’s HIV focused ViiV Healthcare is working with the Health Action Alliance to launch a coalition making that goal a reality by 2030.
The U.S. Business Action to End HIV was announced as part of the White House’s World AIDS Day commemoration and at an event hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services. The project is part of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which aims to engage all areas of society to help with the goal of 90% eradication by 2030. The plan is to pull in the private sector to expand the reach of the efforts.
“By bringing in these other private organizations that can lend their voice, that are in conversations in different places, we really think that this is powerful in this holistic approach,” Lynn Baxter, head of ViiV North America, said in an interview. “We’ve got the public agencies, and public health, federal agencies, and pharma companies like us who really care about this and all of these fantastic corporate organizations lending their voice. So that's what is particularly exciting.”
Some of the big names included in the coalition include: Ada Health, Avita Pharmacy, BLK, Chispa, CVS, Healthvana, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, OraSure Technologies, The Powell Companies Real, Tinder, Uber, Walgreens and Walmart.
Part of the actionable items includes committing to at least one of these six measures: making HIV a corporate priority and extending a call to action to other industry leaders; educating workers and fighting HIV stigma in the workplace; strengthening HIV coverage and non-discrimination policies for employees; advocating for improved HIV policies and system change; leveraging capabilities to implement innovative strategies in communities most affected by HIV; and providing funding to strengthen the coalition’s public health response and operation.
The plan is that by engaging these everyday organizations, the project broadens the scope of the usual audience for HIV. There is no set marketing plan for every company to follow, just for the organizations to use the normal forms of communication with its audience: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
"We have the tools to end HIV. There’s been tremendous progress scientifically in terms of how we can treat and prevent. If the virus is suppressed, that means not only are they healthy, but they can’t pass it on. We need to get people tested and on these cycles of effective treatment and adhering to it," Baxter said.
“This is not about having the medical intervention. It's about all the structural and intersectional things around it stigma, discrimination, social determinants of health, lack of awareness and understanding. So this is why we need to be a bit more innovative and holistic in our approach to how we reach the communities to help understand and connect to care, or else we're never going to move the needle.”
ViiV is focused solely on HIV treatment and is consistently ranked as the most reputable pharma company with a strong drive on social and diversity issues.
The cabotegravir franchise—which currently includes Cabenuva treatment and Apretude for PrEP—could reach peak sales of around 3 billion pounds sterling in 2030, ODDO BHF analysts estimated in a note to clients in October.
Also in ViiV’s portfolio is Dovato, which was greenlighted in 2019 and made 787 million pounds ($940 million) last year, as recorded under GSK.
ViiV as a whole is projected to pull in about 7 billion pounds by 2026.