Long-Acting Injectable PrEP for HIV Risk

Long-acting pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is not only a long sought-after measure of HIV control in the infectious disease community—it’s a now tangible opportunity that would alter both diagnostics and care.

In an interview with Contagion during IDWeek 2021, Raphael J. Landovitz, MD, MSc, of the UCLA Center for Clinical AIDS Research & Education, reviewed his own presentation on the current status and promising developments of long-acting PrEP.

Most notably, he reviewed injectable cabotegravir, for which new data from this year shows “high levels of protective efficacy…across populations” including cisgender men who have sex with men, transgender women, and cisgender women in sub-Saharan Africa.

Landovitz also discussed the observed “profound antiviral efficacy” observed with cabotegravir that suppresses viral replication and makes PrEP breakthrough infections more difficult to identify.

“I suspect that this isn’t going to be something that’s unique to long-acting cabotegravir and is really going to push the field diagnostically as we look forward to monthly oral islatravir, the islatravir implant, and subcutaneous lenacapavir,” Landovitz said.