· The announcement by University of the Witwatersrand researchers about the successful early results of a decisive trial of an HIV prevention injection has been welcomed with high enthusiasm as being a game-changer in the fight against HIV.
· . Dr Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, who headed up the trial stated that for the first time, the world has seen such significant HIV prevention result for women.
The announcement by University of the Witwatersrand researchers about the successful early results of a decisive trial of an HIV prevention injection has been welcomed with high enthusiasm as being a game changer in the fight against HIV. The announcement was made by Professor Helen Rees, Executive Director of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI), via an online media briefing.
Called HPTN084, and led by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), an antiretroviral (ARV) injection was given every two months as against the current standard of drug prevention in the form of a daily oral pill. Dr Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, who headed up the trial stated that for the first time, the world has seen such significant HIV prevention results for women.
The injection, which contains the antiretroviral drug cabotegravir, was found to be 89% more effective according to reports in preventing HIV in women when compared to the daily pill, is a combination of the drugs tenofovir and emtricitabine. Women account for more than half of new infections in sub-Saharan Africa and bear an unfair burden.
Though the daily pill regime has been found to be almost 100% effective at preventing HIV, women were found to be struggling to adhere to daily pill-taking, including stigma from partners or family members who see their pills. Therefore, the injectable option becomes significant.
The HPTN 084 trial was done on 3 223 HIV-negative women in Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe by allocating either to a trial arm receiving the oral drug or one receiving the injection.
The findings Rees said provide great hope and motivation for additional studies to show safety and acceptability in adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women. However, the affordability of the injection to the low-and middle-income countries, who need it most, is unclear.
Responding to the development, The WHO said that before the injection can become available to people outside the HPTN 084 study, the trial results will have to be fully reviewed and submitted to a stringent regulatory authority for approval.
