The results are in, and a recent clinical trial for a preventative HIV drug has come back with shocking effectiveness. According to reports in The Conversation, trials of a new prophylaxis drug can help prevent HIV infections in women better than two other PrEP drugs that are currently on the market.
Further, the researchers involved with the most recent clinical trial discovered that over a six-month period, the medication had a 100% success rate when delivered via injection just twice a year. That’s far more effective than the other two medications previously mentioned.
The preventative HIV drug in question is called Lenacapavir, and it was tested by a Gilead Sciences team across 25 different sites in South Africa and Uganda. Alongside Lenacapavir, the scientists also tested two other PrEP drugs and other HIV blockers in a total of 5,000 women. Those results are extremely promising, too.
HIV infections continue to rise at a terrifying rate, with 1.3 million new HIV infections being reported in the last year. And it poses an extremely high risk to women in South Africa and Uganda, which is why the researchers focused so much of their efforts on the area.
Because of Lenacapavir’s twice-a-year injection system, it would also be exceptionally easy to help patients regulate when they need to take it. Other HIV blockers can require daily regimes that are hard to follow, especially in women between the ages of 16-25. Removing the need for daily medication with a more moderate injectable preventative HIV drug would benefit many.
During the trial, the 2,134 women who received the Lenacapavir shot did not contract HIV at all. However, the women who took the other daily supplements did—though in differing numbers. Those drugs were still fairly effective. However, they were not nearly as successful at blocking the transition of the disease as Lenacapavir.
As scientists continue to perfect medical research, we’re also coming up with new ways to deliver these drugs. Special threads can now deliver drugs directly to the diseased area instead of riddling the entire body with the drug’s harmful effects.
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