The twice-yearly shots for AIDS treatment have shown remarkable effectiveness, with study results indicating they are 100% effective in preventing new HIV infections in women.
The study, which included around 5,000 young women and girls in South Africa and Uganda, found that none of the participants who received the shots contracted HIV. In contrast, about 2% of those given daily prevention pills still contracted the virus from infected sex partners.
To see this level of protection is stunning,” said Salim Abdool Karim of the injections. He is director of an AIDS research center in Durban, South Africa, who was not part of the research.
The shots made by U.S. drugmaker Gilead and sold as Sunlenca are approved in the U.S., Canada, Europe and elsewhere, but only as a treatment for HIV. The company said it is waiting for results of testing in men before seeking permission to use it to protect against infection.
The results in women were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and discussed at an AIDS conference in Munich. Gilead paid for the study and some of the researchers are company employees. Because of the surprisingly encouraging results, the study was stopped early and all participants were offered the shots, also known as lenacapavir.
While there are other ways to prevent HIV infection, like condoms or daily pills, consistent use has been a problem in Africa. In the new study, only about 30% of participants given Gilead’s Truvada or Descovy prevention pills actually took them — and that figure dropped over time.
The prospect of a twice-a-year shot is “quite revolutionary news” for our patients, said Thandeka Nkosi, who helped run the Gilead research at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Masiphumelele, South Africa. “It gives participants a choice and it just eliminates the whole stigma around taking pills” to prevent HIV.
