British pharma giant GSK announced promising results for a long-acting injectable HIV therapy, offering a hopeful alternative for people who take daily pills to halt the virus’s progression.
GSK said its long-acting injectable HIV drug, Cabenuva, worked better than daily pills for some patients, according to interim results from a late-stage clinical trial.
The therapy, developed by joint HIV-focused venture ViiV Healthcare, controlled and majority-owned by GSK, became the first and only long-acting injectable HIV treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2021, though uptake in the U.S. and abroad has been partially hampered by issues over eligibility and the requirement for regular healthcare appointments and specialists needed to inject it.
Data on the injectable drug’s promise compared to oral medication—collected as part of an ongoing study across 31 sites in the U.S. including Puerto Rico supported by the National Institutes of Health—was particularly favorable for patients who struggled to maintain the daily pill regimen, the company said.
It “is a remarkable outcome,” said ViiV’s head of research and development Kimberly Smith, adding that improving therapy for all people living with the virus “is critical to the effort to end the HIV epidemic.”
An independent review body monitoring the trial said the promising results meant all patients involved in the trial should be offered the injectable drug, which is administered as two shots once a month.
Full data from the trial comparing the injectable to the standard regimen of oral antiretroviral medication will be presented at an “upcoming scientific conference,” GSK said.
