Breakthrough HIV drug trial shows biannual injection to be 100% effective against infection
HIV test
Findings from a breakthrough clinical trial conducted in South Africa and Uganda have claimed that biannual injection of a new pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug gives young women total protection from HIV infection.
As many as 5,000 participants were enrolled for the study, sponsored by Gilead Sciences,at three sites in Uganda and 25 sites in South Africa to test theefficacy of Lenacapavir and two other drugs.
"Lenacapavir (Len LA) is a fusion capside inhibitor. It interferes with the HIV capsid, a protein shell that protects HIV’s genetic material and enzymes needed for replication. It is administered just under the skin, once every six months,"Physician-scientist Linda-Gail Bekker, principal investigator for the South African part of the study told The Coversation.
Apart fromLenacapavir, the trial also tested Truvada - a daily PrEP pill in wide use for more than a decade and Descovy, a newer pill, used for the same purpose.
During the randomised trial, none of the 2,314 women who received the injection ofLenacapavir contracted HIV, which suggested the efficacy was 100 per cent.
Meanwhile,16 of 1,068 women who received Truvada and 39 of 2,136who received Descovy contracted the HIV virus.
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After the early success,Bekker said the trial would go in but now in an "open label" phase.
"This means that study participants will be “unblinded”: they will be told whether they have been in the “injectable” or oral TDF (Truvada) or oral TAF (Descovy) groups," she said.
"A sister trial is also underway: Purpose 2 is being conducted in a number of regions including some sites in Africa among cisgender men, and transgender and nonbinary people who have sex with men."
Currently, most peoplewho have HIV, require life-long antiretroviral therapy. If an HIV patient stops consuming the prescribed drugs, the dormant virus can reawaken and lead to problems.
Other HIV breakthrough
Earlier this year, a team of scientists atthe University of Amsterdamclaimed to have successfully eliminated HIV, with the use of Nobel Prize-winning Crispr gene-editing technology, from infected cells.
The technology, which functions like scissors at the molecular level, cuts DNA so "bad" that bits can be inactivated or removed.
The researchers now aim to remove the virus entirely from the body even though much more work is required to checkit is effective and safe.
(With inputs from agencies)