The FDA approves the primary month-to-month HIV remedy

FRIDAY, Jan. 22, 2021 (HealthDay News) – The first monthly admissions for treating adults with HIV were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday.

“Currently, the standard of care for HIV patients is patients taking pills daily to adequately manage their condition. This approval allows some patients to receive monthly injections instead of daily oral treatment,” said Dr. John Farley, director of the Infectious Disease Office at the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

“The availability of this treatment to some patients offers an alternative treatment for this chronic condition,” he added in an agency press release.

An expert said the shots are likely to be welcomed by HIV patients.

Dr. Steven Deeks, an HIV specialist at the University of California at San Francisco, told CBS News that the footage must “improve the quality of life” to be treated only once a month. “People don’t want those daily reminders that they are infected with HIV.”

Another expert agreed.

“Even people who take a pill once a day … reported an improvement in their quality of life to switch to an injection,” said Dr. Judith Currier, an HIV specialist at the University of California at Los Angeles, told CBS News. She advises ViiV Healthcare, the company behind the long-term treatment, and wrote a comment on a study of the drug that was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Not only that, but Deeks added that “there is a huge unmet need” that the recordings could meet as some patients, including people with mental illness or drug problems, struggle with daily drug users.

Cabenuva (cabotegravir and rilpivirine), which is given as two separate vaccinations, has been approved for use in patients who are HIV-suppressed on a stable antiretroviral regimen, have had no previous treatment failure, and have no known or suspected resistance to cabotegravir or rilpivirine. said the FDA.

The FDA also approved Vocabria (cabotegravir, tablet formulation), which should be taken in combination with oral edurant (rilpivirine) for a month before starting treatment with Cabenuva to ensure that the medication is well tolerated by patients before responding switch to extended treatment. release monthly injection.