Long term antiretroviral injection proves effective in trial

A long acting injection for HIV could transform antiretroviral therapy (ART) for patients who struggle to take a daily pill, a leading doctor has said, after the first study of a fully injectable antiretroviral regimen found it to be effective.

Research presented at the International AIDS Society’s Conference on HIV Science in Paris, France, showed that a four or eight week maintenance ART injection of cabotegravir plus rilpivirine had high rates of virologic response and was well tolerated through 96 weeks.

At the end of a two year trial of 286 people, 94% of patients who had received the eight week injection and 87% of those who had the four week injection had the virus under control, defined as …