INJECTABLE PrEP

An injectable long-acting form of PrEP “takes the challenge of daily or near daily adherence
off the table.”

“The goal [for HIV prevention] is more choices,” said Raphael Landovitz, MD, MSc, Associate Professor of Medicine at the UCLA Center for Clinical AIDS Research and Education. “Injectable PrEP is the next order of the day.”

During a webinar hosted recently by the HIV/AIDS Network Coordination, Landovitz shared news about the two Phase 2 injectable PrEP studies now being conducted in the U.S.—HPTN 077 and ÉCLAIR, reports Emily Newman for BETA at betablog.org.

Both are investigating the safety and tolerability of the long-acting investigational product GSK1265744 (cabotegravir).

Thus far, six clinical trials have demonstrated the tight relationship between PrEP HIV prevention effectiveness and patient adherence. In other words, effectiveness declines if patients don’t take or use PrEP medications regularly. There’s excitement about an injectable long-acting form of PrEP, says Landovitz, because long-acting PrEP “takes the challenge of daily or near daily adherence off the table.”

If this injected form of the drug works to prevent HIV, people who opt for this form of HIV prevention may only need to get a new dose once every three months.

The only currently FDA-approved protocol for PrEP is daily oral Truvada (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine). Truvada does not protect users from other sexually transmitted infections.

When taken as directed, Truvada PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV infection.