PARIS: A new “vaccine-like” HIV drug that currently costs over $40,000 per person a year could be made for as little as $40, researchers estimated on Tuesday.

The antiretroviral drug Lenacapavir, developed by US pharmaceutical giant Gilead, has been hailed as a potential game-changer in the fight against HIV.

Early trials have found the treatment is 100 percent effective in preventing HIV infection. And it only needs to be injected twice a year, making the drug far easier to administer than current regimens requiring daily pills.

“It’s like having a vaccine basically,” Andrew Hill, a researcher at the UK’s Liverpool University, told AFP.

The treatment currently costs patients over $40,000 a year in a range of countries including the United States, France, Norway and Australia.