FDA approves HIV prevention drug
On December 20, 2021, The Food and Drug Administration approved the very first injectable medication intended to be used as pre-exposure prevention against HIV. Titled Apretude, the drug is supposed to be administered once every two months and serves to offer an alternative to the already available HIV prevention pills (such as Truvada and Descovy).
Two FDA trials aimed at analyzing the safety and impacts of the drug found that Apretude is sixty-nine percent more likely to reduce HIV for cisgender men and transgender women than its oral counterparts, and by ninety percent for cisgender women.
In the United States, men who have sex with men account for approximately sixty-six percent of all new HIV cases nationwide. According to the Center for Disease Control, when those numbers are disaggregated by race, Black Americans accounted for the highest percentage, clocking forty-two percent of total diagnoses.
“People who are vulnerable to acquiring HIV, especially those in Black and Latinx communities who are disproportionately impacted in the US, may want options beyond daily oral pills,” said Deborah Waterhouse, ViiV Healthcare’s CEO.
According to the CDC only twenty-five percent of the people recommended for the current HIV prevention drugs available are actually using them, the vast majority being gay and bisexual men. High cost, associated with the drug, has been cited as a possible deterrent for many.
In an attempt to encourage more to take use of the drugs, the federal government announced that almost all insurers would now be expected to cover Truvada and Descovy as well as all the lab and clinic visits required to maintain an active prescription. These drugs currently cost a whopping $3700 per dose!
Despite the fact that Apretude will definitely take some time to roll out, health experts hope that this alternative will encourage more people to use the medicines available. Watch this space for more information as it unfolds.
