Lenacapavir is now approved to prevent HIV infection as well as to treat certain infections. Gilead Sciences Inc.
A new drug that can be injected subcutaneously, and which provides HIV prevention, has just been approved in Europe, and this seems to be a significant advance in public health. The drug lenacapavir provides drug action after two shots per year and has demonstrated substantial effectiveness in HIV clinical trials.
In a study with more than 2100 participants, there were no new HIV infections among the people getting the study injections. This is a dramatic departure from existing HIV prevention strategies where people must take a pill every day, which many people cannot or do not do, particularly if they must confront community stigma or access to their medication.
With millions of individuals worldwide still at risk of HIV infection, not to mention that the majority of these individuals do not have adequate and or regular access to medicines, perhaps this long-acting medicine will help fill a gap. This is an exciting development in HIV prevention methods available, perhaps making HIV protection easier, more discreet, and more effective to the populations that need it the most.
If this works as intended, this could mean one of the most significant changes in HIV prevention in years and as previously mentioned only takes two shots per year.
References:
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/opinion-medicine-use-outside-EU/human/lenacapavir-gilead