A single shot of a new formulation of the antiretroviral drug lenacapavir could potentially provide protection against HIV infection for as long as a year. Elri Voigt reports on this and some of the other exciting research on long-acting anti-HIV medicines presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.
Researchers have been trying to develop antiretroviral medicines that can last for weeks, months or even years per dose. Two such long-acting formulations have been approved in South Africa, but several more are on the horizon. Elri Voigt explores the science behind what makes a formulation long-acting and takes a look at some particularly exciting prospects.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority has authorised an injection containing the antiretroviral cabotegravir for use to prevent HIV infection, according to drugmaker ViiV Healthcare. Laura Lopez Gonzalez reports.
South Africa is expected to begin piloting the every-other-month HIV prevention shot early next year, according to the international medicine financing initiative Unitaid. New modelling shows that the injection could prevent as many as 52 000 new HIV infections in the next two decades. But to be cost-effective in South Africa, the research argues, the price of the injection must fall to levels drugmaker ViiV Healthcare says are unrealistic. Laura Lopez Gonzalez reports.
Elri Voigt summarises some of the latest developments on long-acting therapies for HIV presented at the 2022 International AIDS conference.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority recently approved the use of the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring for women 18 years and older to reduce the risk of HIV infection. Thabo Molelekwa looks at the evidence for the ring’s efficacy and asks what plans there are for making it available to women in South Africa.
