Pharma manufacturer Gilead making available at cost (2 million doses in most needed countries) while generics are developed and can later be distributed. Decent play from a Pharma company.

  • stoly@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Speaking as someone with HIV, the worst part is actually the medication. I’ve literally spent at least 6 months at home at various points because the side effects are so bad that I sometimes need a week or two to adjust to any changes. I’ve had to try 6-8 combinations just to find something whose side effects were light enough that I could work. One caused me such bad abdominal distention that I couldn’t eat solid food for about 1.5 years and I formed a hernia that required surgery.

    So yes, for me, most of them are genuinely worse than dying.

    Now I think you were just saying something rude to me a moment ago.

    • Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I wasn’t trying to be rude. It just seemed like you were suggesting the preventative injectable could be worse than AIDS itself, and I was genuinely asking why that would be scarier.

      I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough experience with HIV treatment. That sounds genuinely awful. But just to clarify, the medication being discussed here is preventative, not treatment after infection. It likely has a different side effect profile because its purpose is prevention, not management of the disease.

      If anything, your experience actually makes the case for a reliable preventative even stronger.

      I understand where you’re coming from based on what you’ve been through, but I think we’re talking about two very different situations.