Injecting the combination of cabotegravir and rilpivirine every 4 or 8 weeks, would be as effective as the daily oral therapy of three tablets in maintaining viral suppression of HIV-1 for 96 weeks, according to the reports. results of a study presented at the International AIDS Research Conference in Paris and published in the medical journal the Lancet.
Researchers from ViiV Healthcare in the United States injected 230 patients with HIV, but with an undetectable viral load, two antiretroviral drugs every four weeks or eight weeks, for almost two years. The first injected molecule, cabotegravir, is developed by ViiV Healthcare, a subsidiary of GSK, Pfizer and Shionogi specializing in HIV, while the second, rilpivirine, is developed by Janssen (Johnson and Johnson group). The two laboratories have reached an agreement to make the combination of these two molecules “the first long-acting injectable treatment” against HIV.
Conclusive results, some side effects
The study’s findings showed that the majority of patients (87% of them) still had an undetectable viral load for the group who received an injection every four weeks, and 94% of those who received an injection. every eight weeks.
These results are identical to those observed in the control group of 56 patients who were treated with one tablet per day (84%).
At the end of this protocol, the majority of the patients in the study revealed pain in the area of the injection, and some suffered from diarrhea or from headache.
“Such a treatment could offer an effective and acceptable alternative for people who have achieved an undetectable viral load but who struggle to follow daily oral treatment to control their HIV“, said Paul Stoffels, scientific director of Johnson and Johnson, in a statement.
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