Roger-Luc Chayer: More Than Three Decades in Journalism
Roger-Luc Chayer is a Canadian journalist, editor and media entrepreneur whose professional career spans more than three decades. His experience includes work with RG magazine, the Journal de Montréal and television, including appearances on TQS’s Le Midi avec André Arthur.
In 2002, he acquired Revue Le Point, helping lay the foundation for the development of Gay Globe Magazine and Groupe Gay Globe Média. As editor and publisher, he has overseen a media platform covering current affairs, health, culture, social issues and LGBTQ+ realities, with particular attention to HIV, human rights and stories that deserve greater public attention.
His editorial approach is rooted in independent journalism and a willingness to address subjects that are often overlooked or insufficiently covered by mainstream media. Gay Globe’s guiding motto reflects that commitment: “Go where others don’t.”
In 2012, Roger-Luc Chayer received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, recognizing his career and contributions. Alongside his work in journalism and publishing, he is also a musician.
Roger-Luc Chayer (Image : AI / Gay Globe)
For more than 33 years, I have been publishing news and information about HIV and the fight against this virus. When I started out, there were no effective treatments. Back then, I wrote about the quality of life and the deaths of people living with HIV. Over the years, I began covering the first drugs, which were highly toxic and believed to be effective against HIV, but which poisoned the lives of those taking them without necessarily offering them a longer life expectancy.
Then came triple therapy, in the mid-1990s, followed by generations of increasingly effective medications. PrEP, the antiretroviral medication used to prevent HIV infection, marked another important milestone. Gradually, we saw HIV-related mortality decline dramatically.
Today, we are talking about a preventive injection every two months with Apretude. And since 2025 (2026 in Canada and Europe), lenacapavir has appeared in the United States, followed by Canada and Europe, under different brand names, including Sunlenca for HIV treatment and Yeztugo or Yeytuo for prevention.
Sunlenca and Yeztugo: The Same Molecule, Two Ways to Fight HIV
Some drug names sound alike, and some medications contain the same molecule, yet their purposes can be completely different. That is exactly the case with Sunlenca and Yeztugo, two drugs developed by Gilead Sciences that are based on the same molecule, lenacapavir. One is used to treat certain people living with HIV, while the other aims to prevent infection in people who are HIV-negative. A small difference in how they are used, but a major difference in their mission.
Sunlenca is primarily intended for adults living with HIV that has become resistant to multiple medications. It is used when previous treatments can no longer control the virus adequately or when it is difficult to build an effective combination therapy.
Its mechanism is particularly interesting: lenacapavir acts on the HIV capsid, the protein structure that surrounds and protects the virus’s genetic material. By disrupting several stages of its replication cycle, it helps slow the virus’s multiplication.
But there is an important caveat: Sunlenca is not taken on its own. It must be combined with other active antiretroviral drugs selected by the medical team according to the patient’s circumstances.
What about the doses?
Treatment begins with an initiation phase involving both tablets and injections. Depending on the prescribed regimen, tablets are taken during the first few days, and injections are administered at the beginning of treatment or over the first few weeks.
The maintenance injectable dose is then 927 mg, administered as two subcutaneous injections approximately every six months. The exact initial schedule depends on the regimen selected by the physician.
This is a particularly interesting option for some people who have already gone through several lines of treatment and need a new way to regain control of the virus.
With Yeztugo, the reasoning is different. Here, the goal is prevention, not the treatment of an existing infection. The drug is intended for HIV-negative people who want to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV. It belongs to the family of medications used for pre-exposure prophylaxis, better known as PrEP.
Until now, many people have primarily known PrEP in the form of daily tablets. Yeztugo changes that routine: after an initial phase, maintenance injections are administered every six months.
What about the doses?
The initial regimen includes:
- Day 1: Two 300 mg tablets, for a total of 600 mg taken orally, and two subcutaneous injections totaling 927 mg.
- Day 2: Two additional 300 mg tablets, for another 600 mg taken orally.
- Thereafter: Two subcutaneous injections totaling 927 mg every six months, according to the medical schedule.
However, this treatment requires HIV testing before it is started and before subsequent injections. It is essential to confirm that the person is not infected, because using lenacapavir for prevention in someone who already has HIV can contribute to the development of drug resistance.
Yeztugo does not protect against other sexually transmitted infections either. Prevention therefore still needs to be tailored to each person’s circumstances.
Two Names, One Molecule, but Different Goals
Sunlenca and Yeztugo both contain lenacapavir. The difference lies mainly in their approved uses: the former is used to treat certain HIV infections that are difficult to control, while the latter is used to prevent infection.
The brand names also vary by market. In the United States, the preventive medication is called Yeztugo. In Canada and the European Union, it is marketed under the name Yeytuo.
These treatments illustrate the progress made since the early years of the epidemic, when options were scarce and often extremely difficult to tolerate. Today, research is no longer focused solely on controlling the virus: it is also working to simplify life for people living with HIV and make prevention more accessible.
Six months between injection appointments, rather than taking a tablet every day: for some people, that change can mean a great deal. But as always in medicine, treatment choices must take into account a person’s health, other medications, risks and individual preferences.
What Difference Does This Make for Patients?
In an interview he gave me some time ago, Dr. Réjean Thomas of Clinique l’Actuel in Montreal explained that, for most of his patients, no longer having to take daily pills to treat HIV had been a genuine liberation. The constant fear that their partners or friends might discover their pills, the side effects and the stigma they could experience while taking these medications had diminished. Patients felt relieved of an enormous burden on their conscience and, above all, felt freer, more normal, “like before.”
Frank, 28: “I Finally Feel Freer”
At 28, Frank, a French man living with HIV, is discovering a new way to live with his treatment. Thanks to Sunlenca, he no longer has to take his antiretroviral medication in tablet form every day. For him, this change represents much more than a simple matter of medication.
“When you live with HIV, pills eventually become part of your daily routine. You think about them in the morning, check that you have enough, and sometimes wonder whether someone will see them and start asking questions. Even when you have come to terms with your situation, that daily reminder is not always easy to live with.”
Sunlenca, which contains lenacapavir, is administered through injections spaced approximately six months apart. However, it is intended for certain patients whose HIV is resistant to multiple treatments, and it must be combined with other antiretroviral medications.
For Frank, the main benefit is psychological. Treatment is still necessary, but it takes up less space in his life.
“I don’t want to hide who I am, but I want to be able to choose what I share with others. Not having to take my pills every day anymore is one less burden. I think less about HIV and more about my life, my plans and my relationships.”
He understands that this treatment does not cure HIV and is not available to everyone. Nevertheless, he sees this development as another reason to hope.
“We often talk about medical progress in terms of numbers and laboratory results. Of course, that matters. But we also need to think about what these advances change in people’s minds and lives. Being able to breathe a little easier and feel less trapped by your routine is already a lot.”
For Frank, the fight against HIV is not just about controlling a virus. It is also about regaining, as much as possible, the freedom to live without the disease taking up all the space.
France, Spain, England and Ireland reimburse the treatment in full, subject to very strict eligibility criteria.
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