An HIV-preventive drug showed 100 per cent efficacy and ”no safety concerns” in women, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Lenacapavir, injectable twice a year, is developed by the US-based biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc. as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug.
These drugs prevent the spread of infection in people not yet exposed to the disease-causing agent. The study, a phase-3 trial involving teenage girls and young women in South Africa and Uganda, showed that lenacapavir ”demonstrated zero (HIV) infections” and ”100 per cent efficacy,” Gilead Sciences, Inc. said in a statement.
HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, spreads from the body fluids of an infected person. Untreated, the infection can progress to AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome over years. In the PURPOSE 1 trial, 5,338 participants, who were HIV-negative, to begin with, were divided into three groups – 2,134 receiving lenacapavir injections 26 weeks apart; 2,136 receiving the daily oral tablet Descovy (F/TAF); and 1,068 receiving the daily oral tablet Truvada (F/TDF).
Researchers, including those from the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa, observed a total of 55 infections – zero in the Lenacapavir group, 39 in the Desovy group and 16 in the Truvada group. ”No participants receiving twice-yearly lenacapavir acquired HIV infection,” the study authors wrote. The most common adverse effects were inject.