Cabotegravir, an injection drug, would be more effective than PrEP tablets, which already reduce the risk of being infected with HIV to 99%.
HIV prevention is taking a new turn. Injecting a drug called cabotegravir every eight weeks would prevent HIV infection, which causes AIDS, even more effectively than daily PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) tablets, which have already revolutionized prevention of HIV infection. viruses, the American Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on Monday (May 18th), according to AFP.
They have communicated the preliminary results of a large clinical trial launched more than three years ago in seven countries including the United States, Brazil, Thailand and South Africa, with men who have sex with men as well as transgender women, most under the age of 30. These groups are considered to be the most at risk in the HIV epidemic. Another trial is underway on women.
For the moment, the only approved preventive medicine is a tablet called PrEP, marketed by the brands Truvada and Descovy in the United States. People without HIV need to take it every day, so their risk of getting infected from unprotected sex is reduced by 99%, according to the United States Centers for Disease Prevention (CDC). But the need for daily intake is considered a possible obstacle, hence research on a less restrictive method.
Real efficiency
The results released Monday, and shared by AFP, are based on the monitoring of more than 4,500 people. Half received the cabotegravir injection every two months (with placebo PrEP tablets), and the other half received a placebo injection (and real PrEP pills). All participants were therefore treated by one method or another.
The 50 participants were still infected with HIV during the period, but unevenly: 12 in the cabotegravir group, and 38 in the Truvada group. This translates into an injection efficiency 69% higher than that of Truvada, yet already considered a pillar of prevention policies, especially in the United States where at least 200,000 people at risk take it, according to the Gilead laboratory. .
Faced with these more than positive results, those responsible for the clinical trial prematurely ended the blind trial so that all participants could benefit from the most effective method, injection.
“We are very pleased with the results, not only because of the high efficacy of cabotegravir, but also because we have demonstrated high efficacy in a study that adequately represents the populations most disproportionately affected by HIV: MSM ( black men in sex in the United States, young MSM around the world, transgender women, ”said Kimberly Smith, director of research and development at ViiV Healthcare (GSK group), reported by AFP.