Innovating HIV treatment and prevention

Janssen is exploring innovative applications of our HIV medicines to help address treatment and prevention outcomes in hard-to-reach areas by finding ways to reduce the frequency of dosing. We’re also working in collaboration with non-profit product development partners to research new pathways to prevent HIV infection through injectable formulations and microbicidal rings.

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Exploring Treatment as Prevention

We’ve entered into a royalty-free licensing agreement with PATH, an international non-profit organization that transforms global health through innovation, for the early development of potential pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, against HIV infection. PrEP is an HIV prevention strategy that involves the use of antiretroviral medications to reduce the risk of HIV infection in healthy uninfected people at risk for acquiring the virus.

Following these collaborative efforts, the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) announced a new phase 2 study to test the safety and acceptability the long-acting, injectable form of our HIV medicine for PrEP.

Collaborating to Evaluate the Prevention of Sexual Transmission of HIV

Women and girls, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the HIV epidemic has hit hardest, remain particularly vulnerable to infection. New HIV prevention tools are needed to empower women to help protect their health.

For more than a decade, Janssen researchers have collaborated with the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing new HIV prevention technologies for women, to evaluate the prevention of sexual transmission of HIV. Our partnership with IPM was one of the very first public-private collaborations in the microbicides field.

Increasing Sustainable Access to Our Medicines

Janssen, as part of its commitment to global public health, cultivates and helps implement innovative pricing and results-based financing models that improve access to our medicines for patients in resource-limited and emerging markets. We are also creating sustainable, long-term solutions based on country ownership and accountability for both services and outcomes.

With over 35 million people living with HIV/AIDS today and only 11.7 million people in low- and middle-income countries receiving HIV medicines, expanding access to HIV treatment is a top global public health priority in resource-limited settings. Through our HIV Medicines Access & Partnerships Program, we strive to help people living with HIV/AIDS in resource-limited settings gain effective and sustainable access to our HIV medicines. Our approach in resource-limited settings has included ensuring the availability of branded versions of our HIV medicines at low Special Effort Access Prices and enabling generic versions through proactive management of our intellectual property.

Our HIV Medicines Access & Partnerships Program addresses the unique challenges of HIV medicine access in resource-limited settings:

1. Availability: Branded registration efforts and product introduction prioritized by disease burden
2. Affordability: Reduced access pricing and proactive intellectual property management to facilitate generic versions of Janssen’s HIV medicines within the territory
3. Appropriate Use: Support for joint medical education trainings and clinical studies in resource-limited settings
4. Adoption: Inclusion in World Health Organization, regional and national guidelines, and support of pre- and post-approval procurement

Collaborating to Improve Access for Children With HIV

At Janssen, we are dedicated to doing our part to help children and young people living with HIV thrive and reach adulthood. Our company has a long history of working to improve the lives and well-being of children living with HIV. Our efforts include many programs to prevent infection, develop new medicines, and provide care and treatment for children and adolescents with HIV.

Addressing pediatric HIV remains a significant challenge across sub-Saharan Africa and other resource-limited settings. Of more than 3 million children living with HIV, only 23 percent receive treatment, and a small but growing number of those receiving treatment in resource-limited settings are failing first-line therapy. Our collaborative initiative ‒ New Horizons Advancing Pediatric HIV Care ‒ is designed to advance care for these children and adolescents. This initiative seeks to address this unmet need and improve access to our approved HIV medicines, including child-friendly formulations, for vulnerable patients living in least-developed countries.

We’re working with a number of organizations, including the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), Supply Chain Management Systems (SCMS), the International AIDS Society (IAS) and MAP International, to fully maximize the program’s impact. In 2014, Ministries of Health in sub-Saharan Africa were invited to submit an Expression of Interest to participate in the initiative. An independent Review Committee of international experts in pediatric HIV has since carefully assessed all applications. To date, four countries have been determined to be eligible for participation – Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia. We are working with clinicians and Ministries of Health to equip local health systems with the resources, data and tools necessary for the long-term delivery of medicines and care for these children. To meet the needs of treatment-experienced children globally, we have expanded the scope of the initiative to countries beyond sub-Saharan Africa.

We hope that New Horizons catalyzes a broader collaborative effort to build awareness, accelerate action, and advance learning around the needs of children and adolescents experiencing HIV treatment failure globally.