Arturo De la Rosa, Vice President for Latin America at Gilead Sciences, leverages deep regional experience to navigate healthcare challenges and opportunities across multiple countries. He oversees a dual strategy, sustaining leadership in virology while expanding Gilead’s oncology presence, aiming for it to represent a third of global revenues by 2030. His leadership underscores Gilead’s commitment to serving Latin America’s 650 million people through public health partnerships and innovative therapies.
What motivated your transition to this regional leadership role, and what aspects of leading Gilead’s Latin American operations excite you most?
The magnitude of potential impact drives my enthusiasm for this position. Leading a diverse team across Latin America enables us to leverage multiple perspectives and maximise our regional influence. As someone born and raised in Mexico, with extensive experience in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, Latin America represents far more than a professional opportunity; it embodies a personal mission. Every health intervention we implement across the region feels akin to supporting my own family.
What strategic rationale underpinned Gilead’s decision to create dedicated Latin American leadership, and what implications does this hold for the company’s regional vision?
To clarify, this position existed previously before evolving into a structure where general managers reported directly to corporate headquarters. The restoration of regional leadership reflects our recognition that process harmonisation and coordinated regional impact prove more effective under unified leadership.
Given that Gilead’s portfolio predominantly addresses public health challenges—HIV, hepatitis, and similar conditions—these represent universal concerns across Latin America. We believe a regional approach often yields superior outcomes compared to fragmented, country-specific strategies. This unified structure positions us to tackle these shared public health imperatives more systematically.
How would you characterise Gilead’s comprehensive strategy for Latin America, and how do you anticipate this will influence the company’s global performance?
Our strategy centres on maintaining excellence in virology whilst simultaneously establishing our oncology footprint. Certain markets, such as Brazil, already recognise us as a dominant oncology player, particularly in breast cancer. Other territories are witnessing the launch of our oncology franchise. However, our vision extends beyond current achievements; we aspire to become a significant global oncology player by decade’s end.
Gilead leadership has articulated clear expectations: at least one-third of our revenues should derive from oncology by 2030. Crucially, this oncology expansion does not diminish our virology leadership. We must continue delivering exceptional virology execution, ensuring our innovative treatments reach every Latin American market whilst concurrently building our oncology presence.
What constitute your primary strategic priorities for the coming years, and which markets do you identify as most critical for Gilead across Latin America?
Given our focus on public health issues, larger populations typically correlate with greater challenges and opportunities. Consequently, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia represent our four primary priorities, reflecting where the disease burden remains most substantial.
However, this prioritisation does not diminish our commitment to smaller markets facing HIV and hepatitis challenges. Beyond excelling in major markets, we bear social responsibility to ensure no population remains underserved.
Additionally, we are launching our oncology franchise across multiple countries and must execute these launches impeccably. Success here establishes our credibility as an oncology partner, not merely for current therapies but for future innovations we will introduce.
We launched oncology in Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina this year, and in Chile last year. Consequently, five of Latin America’s largest markets now have access to Gilead oncology products.
With the long-term objective of generating 30% of revenues from oncology, how are you addressing affordability and reimbursement challenges across the region?
Oncology requires highly tailored, country-specific strategies due to vastly different market realities. Brazil’s private market offers decent access levels, whilst the public sector faces significant gaps compared to private healthcare. Colombia generally provides broader access, though financing innovation remains challenging, necessitating affordable solutions for widespread adoption.
Argentina presents disparities between public markets and private healthcare management organisations. Mexico features a limited private market, but this represents the essential first step toward broader public market penetration.
Fundamentally, we must demonstrate value. I am convinced that, from a payer’s perspective, investing thousands of dollars in marginally beneficial treatments makes little sense. Our challenge lies in showcasing the genuine value of our innovations.
Currently, our most significant growth opportunity beyond oncology involves introducing our new HIV prevention product, which could prove transformative and establish a new standard of care. Successful regional implementation could generate substantial opportunities, provided we address access issues comprehensively through local and regional initiatives.
According to PAHO, approximately 2.7 million people live with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean. How do you perceive Gilead’s role in addressing this ongoing challenge, and which innovations will make the greatest difference?
Gilead stands among the most prominent names in HIV innovation—indeed, the company was founded on this mission. Our founder became obsessed with tackling HIV during the late 1980s, when HIV-related mortality threatened to become a leading cause of death.
For decades, Gilead has remained at the forefront of HIV treatment. Today, we possess remarkable treatment alternatives for HIV control, and our new prevention options create unprecedented possibilities for ending the HIV epidemic. For the first time—and this sentiment echoes among key opinion leaders—the combination of advanced treatments and novel prevention options provides the necessary tools to potentially eliminate the global HIV epidemic.
Given that most HIV treatments are government-purchased, how does Gilead collaborate with public health systems to ensure sustainable access and delivery?
Each country requires tailored approaches. We must balance problem-solving with sustainability. Simply distributing products everywhere proves ineffective when countries lack delivery infrastructure or diagnostic capabilities.
Beyond selling products, we must understand the complete healthcare landscape and support governments where they need assistance most. We align with World Health Organisation goals: achieving 95%diagnosis rates among HIV-positive individuals, 95% treatment rates among diagnosed cases, and 95% virological suppression among treated patients—essentially enabling normal lives without transmission capability.
Every country presents different opportunities. Mexico achieves satisfactory virological suppression levels but faces gaps in identifying undiagnosed HIV-positive individuals. Our priority involves finding and diagnosing people unaware of their status.
Other countries may have shifted to older generic alternatives that underperform compared to newer products. Brazil, however, demonstrates intelligent treatment selection, despite utilising many generic options. They are now evaluating innovative treatments for specific patient populations not achieving optimal results with older alternatives.
I harbour no objection to effective generic medicines. If decade-old generic treatments work effectively, that represents the pharmaceutical industry legacy—once patents expire, these become humanity’s heritage. Problems arise when certain patient profiles fail to respond to existing therapies, necessitating continued innovation and research.
Regarding hepatitis, there is a 2030 elimination target set by the WHO. How is Gilead contributing to screening, diagnosis, and antiviral access to help countries achieve this goal?
Our approach varies by country and their specific needs. In Mexico, we maintain close partnerships with authorities, particularly regarding diagnosis efforts. We have made substantial investments exclusively focused on identifying hepatitis C patients for treatment, given that we have had hepatitis C cures for a considerable time.
One of our region’s greatest challenges involves finding these patients. We are actively engaged in patient identification efforts in Mexico and Colombia, supporting governments across different countries in locating hepatitis C patients.
The cure exists. There is no justification for tolerating future liver transplants or liver cancers when prevention makes complete economic sense. However, finding hepatitis C patients proves extremely difficult due to narrow prevalence rates and the ineffectiveness of generalist strategies. We must employ precision targeting, focusing on specific populations with higher incidence rates.
Sometimes we contribute strategic insights, other times resources, but our consistent focus remains on identifying individuals living with hepatitis C who can benefit from treatment.
Latin America currently represents four to six percent of global clinical trials activity. How would you describe Gilead’s current research footprint in the region, and how has local data influenced regulatory and reimbursement decisions?
When examining Latin America’s representativeness as a percentage of pharmaceutical sales, six to ten percent of global clinical trial investment represents a reasonable figure, actually exceeding our regional sales share across different corporations.
Latin America and the Caribbean encompass over 650 million people with diverse genetics. We are not homogeneous—Brazil’s population is half white and half mixed-race, Argentina is predominantly white, and Mexico is highly mixed-race. We offer not only substantial population size but also genetic representativeness, excellent investigators, superior clinical trial centres, and competitive costs.
The question should be: why would companies not conduct clinical trials in Latin America? We possess the population, investigators, centres, and cost competitiveness.
This message has reached different governments, which have responded by expediting regulatory processes to remain competitive in clinical trial timelines. I have observed improvements in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Our current Mexican Health Minister is himself an investigator who understands these challenges personally and is working to ensure Mexico maintains competitive clinical trial timelines.
How is Gilead planning to invest in people, partnerships, and infrastructure to build a stronger healthcare ecosystem across the region?
A consistent Gilead theme is our belief that bigger does not necessarily mean better. Gilead operates as an impact-driven organisation. Sometimes, impact requires fewer offices, people, or resources and greater focus on understanding problem drivers and solution-focused investment.
I seek a smarter organisation, not a larger one. We must leverage technology, including artificial intelligence, and collaboration capabilities with governments and regional bodies to amplify our medicines’ impact. Enhanced impact does not result from deploying more personnel but from intelligently identifying the levers that truly influence problem resolution.
When engaging with Gilead personnel, you will consistently find our focus centres on impact rather than scale expansion.
Does this new regional structure signal long-term commitment to Latin America, and how would you describe Gilead’s role in the region over the next five years?
Regarding Gilead’s commitment, the most impactful element I discovered upon joining involves our global approach to low-income countries. No other pharmaceutical company matches Gilead’s global impact through comprehensive support for 140 countries without economic return expectations.
We operate a business unit covering 140 low-income countries with high disease incidence, focused entirely on improving lives without profit considerations. With our new HIV prevention medicine—launched in the US only in June—Gilead had already announced guaranteed supply to 120 countries at no profit even before the US launch.
Who commits to providing a pre-launch product to 120 lower-income countries with the highest HIV burden at no profit? This demonstrates the values underlying Gilead’s founding. We genuinely aim to solve problems, not merely generate revenue. While we require some profit for reinvestment in future innovation, certain countries still need immediate problem resolution.
You have stated that fighting diseases requires more than just the right drug. What systematic partnerships in Latin America best illustrate this beyond-the-field strategy?
Our partnership with the Mexican government regarding hepatitis C exemplifies this approach. In Brazil, we collaborate with authorities to understand not only current needs but future requirements for sustainable models. This includes exploring local production possibilities, alternative financing mechanisms for regional countries, improved diagnosis rates, and enhanced adherence across different countries.
Gilead personnel examine specific opportunity areas in every market. Sometimes these areas overlap, sometimes countries present wildly different necessities. We cannot employ one-size-fits-all approaches; we must implement whatever drives progress towards improved health outcomes in each country.
Another standout example is the Zeroing In: Latin America and the Caribbean Grants initiative, a $4 million program launched in early 2024 that supports 35 community-based organisations across 21 countries. These partnerships are strengthening HIV care systems where they’re needed most, bringing services closer to the people and amplifying local impact.
This is Gilead’s vision in action: not just delivering innovation but embedding it within systems that can carry it forward, so that no one is left behind.
Looking ahead, how do you envision Gilead’s role in Latin America: primarily as a leader in HIV access, a driver of oncology and cell therapy growth, or a system-wide partner in strengthening public health?
The latter option represents our vision. Gilead engages deeply in issues critical to every regional country, and we cannot abandon this commitment.
I have never experienced such intense societal interest—from patient associations, advocates, congressional representatives, government officials—regarding our next strategic moves. This attention signifies that our decisions matter, creating substantial responsibility.
We acknowledge imperfection and recognise we will not always succeed, but we will persistently strive for improvement.
How challenging has it been to engage with different governments across the region, building upon your successful experience with Mexican authorities?
Having Gilead leadership support helps enormously when facing opportunities where we can add value. When you clearly understand where you can help and where you cannot, and communicate this transparently to regional governments, you establish the foundations of trust.
I would characterise this experience as rewarding rather than challenging. When you transparently present what value you can create, relationships become productive because you are not pursuing one-sided deal-making strategies—you are genuinely focused on value creation. When you can demonstrate mutual benefit, government officials typically embrace such agreements because the fundamental premise involves everyone achieving better outcomes.
What final message would you like to share with our global readers?
Gilead represents just one participant in the multiple healthcare battles the world faces. However, I can assure your readers that regarding issues within Gilead’s purview, we will perform to the best of our abilities.
History demonstrates that Gilead has delivered tremendous value against deadly diseases. The current generation of Gilead professionals bears the minimum responsibility of honouring previous generations’ achievements. Today, HIV-related deaths have decreased dramatically, and liver transplants and cancers from hepatitis C have fallen substantially.
When confronting these statistics, you must commit to remaining part of the solution. We want to end the HIV epidemic, eliminate the hepatitis C epidemic, reduce breast cancer mortality among women, and decrease suffering from deadly diseases. This represents what the current generation of Gilead employees strives to accomplish every single day.
