The FDA has approved a form of HIV treatment that only needs to be taken once every two months with an injection in the buttocks.
The FDA already approved a once-a-month injection in January 2021. The shot contains cabotegravir (ViiV Healthcare) and rilpivirine (Janssen Pharmaceuticals). At the time, its makers said they were confident that the shot could work for longer, but needed more data to back up the claim.
Related: FDA approves first long-acting HIV medication: a monthly injection
The once-every-two-month injection is for HIV-positive adults who are already virally suppressed, have shown no previous treatment failure or resistance to either of the drugs involved.
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The FDA granted approval after results from a trial showed the injections remained efficient if given every couple of months.
The lead researcher involved with that trial, Turner Overton, MD, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said in a statement, “Many people living with HIV face challenges with daily therapies and are interested in alternative dosing options.
“In clinical trials, approximately nine out of every 10 trial participants preferred long-acting cabotegravir and rilpivirine dosed every two months compared to daily oral cabotegravir and rilpivirine.”
Viiv Healthcare is predominantly owned by GlaxoSmithKline. Lynn Baxter, Head of North America at ViiV Healthcare, said in a statement announcing the approval, “Today’s approval is a remarkable achievement given where HIV treatment was just a decade ago. We know some people living with HIV struggle with taking daily oral pills, and Cabenuva may allow them to maintain viral suppression while significantly reducing dosing to as few as six times a year.”
Related: What is Shigella—and why should gay men know about it?
Long-acting cabotegravir and rilpivirine are already approved for use every two months in Canada under the name Cabenuva and in the EU as Vocabria and Rekambys.
Matthew Hodson, Chief Executive of HIV information organization NAM aidsmap, welcomed the news.
“For many people taking daily pills becomes an emotional burden, a constant reminder that their health is at risk without medication,” he told Queerty. “For some, who are unable to be open about their need for HIV treatment, it can create considerable obstacles to necessary adherence required for HIV medication to be effective. For many, a switch to injections just six times a year will be a liberation.”
Caine
How much is it going to cost?
Genvoya a daily pill costs $2300 to $2500 a month.
Caine
Answering my own question:
Cabenuva Prices
200 mg-300 mg/mL from $4,247.10
UNBELIEVABLE.
wiggie
Biktarvy is almost 4k per month
Chrisk
wiggie
It’s funny that they can just fenagle a few older medications together and then charge twice as much.
LunaSol2010
Overpriced by 350% minimum. As a Canadian its being part of the G30 who provide universal Healthcare. USA is lower rate of life span due to stress of health issues and money. I would be up protesting everyday in front of Congress. You deserve a better quality of life.
Thanks to Mark Cuban affordable drugs are coming throughout the US. A very very good man. Canadian born?
Its now a condition to manage like diabetes. We have cone a very long way since 1983!
DixonMillerRN
I’ve gotten that jab every month for about half a year. It relived the low-grade nausea I used to deal with. I can’t complain about the doctor visit I have to make to get it.. I can manage an injection on my own quite well but the storage and handling guidelines are a bit rigid for most people to provide on their own. Looking forward to the reduced dosages!
carllonghorn
As long as the drug companies have this pipeline of drugs that are making them billions of dollars (according to one study, the cost of HIV care ranges from $1,800 to $4,500 per month during a person’s lifetime), what is the incentive to even bothering to look for a cure? Of course there’s no alternative to these huge profits in the US because Congress is in the pockets of Big Pharma. And no, it is not for research and development – most of these drugs have been around for years, and yet Big Pharma continues to suppress any generic alternatives.
Max
there’s that one drug that a pharma charged high for and it was based on government research already done.
our government is too chicken to fight pharmas and challenge their prices other than poor Bernie shouting about it. he knows generics from other countries can help us out, but alas, no ones got the balls to help him.