DW.COM – Health experts say lenacapavir could reduce the number of global HIV infections significantly. It can protect against HIV with only two injections per year.
But it needs to be cheaper to be effective.
[Abstaining from sex outside of marriage would also reduce the number of global HIV infections significantly, and it’s free. – HEADLINE HEALTH]
When lenacapavir test results were presented at a World AIDS Conference in July 2024, experts were thrilled: Lenacapavir was hailed as a long-awaited breakthrough in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“I [was] totally thrilled,” said Clara Lehmann, who heads the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at the University Hospital of Cologne. “When these data were presented, there was an electrifying atmosphere in the hall. This was simply terrific.”
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What is special about lenacapavir?
Lenacapavir is an antiretroviral drug that is said to be almost 100% effective in the prevention and treatment of HIV infections.
As a preventative drug, also known as a prophylactic, it only needs to be injected twice a year, which makes administration much easier. Other prophylactics, such as cabotegravir (CAB), are injected every one to two months; Truvada has to be taken daily as a tablet.
But lenacapavir is also considered more discreet. Astrid Berner-Rodoreda, a post-doc researcher at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, said a twice-a-year injection can be a great relief for people who face stigmatization or where care constraints make it difficult for a person to take tablets every day.
Lenacapavir could, for example, benefit women and young girls for whom the HIV incidence is still extraordinarily high in some regions, according to UNAIDS.
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How does lenacapavir work?
Lenacapavir is a so-called capsid inhibitor: The active ingredient disrupts the function of a vital protein of the virus so that it stops replicating.
And it works — in contrast to most antiretroviral agents — in several phases in the life of the HI-virus …