Ugandan manufacturer DEI BioPharma has pledged to supply the newly-approved HIV drug Lenacapavir for under $50 a year, a fraction of the US$28,000 price set by originator company Gilead Sciences. The twice-yearly injectable—marketed as Yeztugo in the United States—was cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration only days ago.
Speaking at DEI’s Matugga office on Wednesday, founder and managing director Dr Matthias Magoola said the company will use Uganda’s status as a least-developed country to produce the patented medicine legally under the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS waiver, which protects LDCs from patent-infringement claims until 2034. “This will be the first complete HIV treatment manufactured in Africa at a price our people can afford,” Dr Magoola said. “Access has always been the missing link. We are changing that, starting now.”
DEI expects to bring the injectable to market within 18 months, potentially becoming the world’s first non-originator supplier of Lenacapavir. The drug—a long-acting capsid inhibitor administered only twice a year—could transform treatment and prevention strategies across a continent that still bears the highest global HIV burden.
Leveraging the TRIPS window
Under WTO rules, least-developed countries may override pharmaceutical patents to address public-health needs. Uganda plans to seize that opportunity before the waiver expires in 2034. DEI officials say local production can cut the per-patient cost of Lenacapavir to about UGX 180,000 (US$50)—less than 0.2 percent of the current US list price.
A wider pipeline
Lenacapavir is just the beginning. DEI’s 30-unit complex—commissioned in 2021 by Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and William Ruto of Kenya—is built to US FDA, EMA and WHO standards and is capable of producing:
- up to 1 billion doses of mRNA vaccines annually
- monoclonal antibodies and other biological drugs
- active pharmaceutical ingredients for malaria, cancer, diabetes and hepatitis medicines
The firm says it has filed more than 100 patents with the US Patent and Trademark Office and forecasts 40,000 direct and indirect jobs once fully operational. “This is not just about medicine— it’s about sovereignty,” Dr Magoola added. “Uganda and Africa can innovate, manufacture and lead in biotechnology globally.”
Health-equity milestone
Public-health advocates have hailed the announcement as a potential blueprint for low-income nations seeking affordable access to cutting-edge therapies. Lenacapavir’s six-month dosing schedule could ease adherence challenges and reduce logistical costs for overstretched health systems.
If DEI succeeds, analysts say the move could pressure originator companies to lower prices worldwide and accelerate efforts to localise drug production in the Global South. For millions living with or at risk of HIV, the Ugandan initiative signals a turning point: life-saving innovation no longer reserved for the world’s wealthiest patients.
