i-base – Reports from CROI 2019
HIV Treatment Bulletin, published by HIV i-base, includes early reports from the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2019).
HIV Treatment Bulletin, published by HIV i-base, includes early reports from the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2019).
On 6 June 2018, without news from the US FDA, a press release from Frontier Biotech announced the approval of a new HIV drug in China that is given by once-weekly injection.
This is a rare example of an HIV treatment not being first approved in either the US or Europe.
On 15 August 2018, top-line results from the phase 3 ATLAS study reported that monthly injections with the dual long-acting formulation cabotegravir/rilpivirine were non-inferior as a switch option compared to remaining on triple-drug ART.
The Antiretroviral Therapy as Long Acting Suppression (ATLAS) study randomised 570 HIV positive adults who had been virally suppressed for more than six months on their first or second HIV combination.
In the first presentation in a session at R4P2018 looking at using bNAbs for prevention, Pilar Mendoza from the Rockefeller University presented results on the impact of a combination of two antibodies in HIV positive people on ART who then took an analytic treatment interruption (ATI).
The R4P2018 conference included a wealth of studies looking at broadly neutralising monoclonal antibody (bNAbs) for HIV prevention.
A selection of these studies reported below shows the complexities of this research which is important given large-scale studies are already ongoing.
The properties of long-acting PrEP drugs that reduce the need for daily dosing also presents a new set of challenges if and when people decide to stop.
When LA drugs are used for treatment, this is less of a problem, as HIV positive people will usually be switching to an alternative drug combination.
First in-human trial results of nanoformulations of efavirenz and lopinavir confirmed the potential for a 50% dose reduction to the current standard oral dose of both antiretrovirals.
Longer follow-up results from using the first coformulated injectable ART were presented from the phase 2b LATTE study. [1]
Following a lead period that included using oral formulations of cabotegravir and rilpivirine, 286 treatment-naive participants were randomised (2:2:1) to either 8-weekly (8W) or 4-weekly (4W) injections, or to oral cabotegravir plus abacavir/3TC.
Optimal doses of long-acting injectable antiretrovirals cabotegravir and rilpivirine were predicted for different weight bands in children and adolescents.
Long-acting injectable antiretrovirals could be future alternatives to oral formulations and might help to address adherence. There is great interest in the potential use of these formulations in the treatment of paediatric HIV.
Question: I was wondering if there is any hope for a longer term medication. I mean a medication or an injection where you take it a few times a year – or even every few years – and not every day of your life?