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Ugandan scientist Alex Kintu is part of the global team behind Lenacapavir, a breakthrough antiretroviral injection that has shown 100% effectiveness in preventing HIV infection in women during recent clinical trials.
Kintu works as director for clinical development at Gilead Sciences, a US biopharmaceutical firm that developed the injectable.
He trained as a medical doctor in Uganda before earning an MS in Epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and later a PhD in Global Health and Population at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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Before his postgraduate studies, Kintu served as a physician in rural western Uganda, where he helped roll out HIV treatment services.
He also worked as a safety monitor in the Partners clinical trial on PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis). His doctoral research focused on HIV, antiretroviral therapy, and cardiovascular diseases, looking at how to integrate CVD care into health systems in sub-Saharan Africa.
He has contributed to health projects across Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa.
In 2024, a major study found that none of the 2,134 women in Uganda and South Africa who received the Lenacapavir jab contracted HIV, compared to 16 cases among those on the daily pill Truvada and 39 among users of Descovy.
An independent monitoring board found the injectable to be both safe and highly effective.
Over 5,300 participants were enrolled at 28 sites, randomly assigned to receive either Lenacapavir or one of Gilead’s daily oral PrEP drugs.
While Lenacapavir recorded zero infections, the Descovy group saw an infection rate of 2.02 per 100 person-years and the Truvada group 1.69 per 100 person-years.
Lenacapavir is currently used alongside other medications for people with drug-resistant HIV, offering hope for both treatment and prevention.