Johnson & Johnson : 4 Ways Johnson & Johnson Has Worked to Make Access to Medicines Around the World More Equitable

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With 1.7 million new infections every year, HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, continues to be one of the most pervasive and deadly epidemics in history.

A vaccine to prevent HIV infection has the potential to change the course of the global epidemic, which disproportionately impacts low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and marginalized people throughout the world. For more than 15 years, scientists at Johnson & Johnson have been working towards this goal, developing a vaccine candidate employing the same advanced technologies that are being used in the company's approved Ebola vaccine and investigational COVID-19 vaccine.

Currently, Johnson & Johnson is in the midst of two large clinical trials of its investigational vaccine regimen for HIV, making it the only company in the world with a preventive vaccine candidate in late-stage development.

In December 2020, Johnson & Johnson reached another milestone in the fight against HIV: The European Commission approved the world's first long-acting injectable treatment, which Janssen partnered with Viiv Healthcare to develop.

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The trials, called Imbokodo and Mosaico, are taking place across four continents and involve populations who are disproportionately vulnerable to contracting HIV: young women in Africa, and men who have sex with other men and transgendered individuals in the Americas and Europe. Initial results from Imbokodo-which has completed its vaccinations-are expected later this year, and results from Mosaico, which is still enrolling participants, should be available in 2024.

'For more than 25 years, we've been committed to making HIV history by advancing new treatment and prevention options,' says Hanneke Schuitemaker, Ph.D. Hanneke Schuitemaker, Ph.D.,Global Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention, Global Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention. 'We have designed our investigational vaccine regimen to prevent infection caused by multiple HIV strains worldwide. Our goal is to provide a vaccine that works-no matter where you live in the world.'

In December 2020, Johnson & Johnson reached another milestone in the fight against HIV: The European Commission approved the world's first long-acting injectable treatment, which Janssen partnered with Viiv Healthcare to develop. The treatment enables eligible people living with HIV-1 to forego daily pill regimens in favor of injections given just once a month, or even every other month.

And in order to help transport its treatments to the places where they are needed most-like Uganda's Kalangala District in Africa, which comprises 84 islands in Lake Victoria and has the highest HIV prevalence in the nation-Johnson & Johnson has launched a multiyear pilot program there to deliver much-needed medication via medical drones. The goal: bring lifesaving solutions to patients as directly and efficiently as possible, and prevent exposing healthcare workers to the dangerous boat journeys now necessary to access the area.