The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided a green signal to the world’s first ever injectable treatment which can reduce the risk of acquiring HIV.
The medication, Apretude, has proved itself as a gamechanger in the fight against HIV and is used as an alternative to regular pills being used for HIV prevention namely Descovy and Truvada.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that although the pills being used to prevent HIV are 99% effective against HIV via sexual transmission, they are required to be consumed daily for better effects.
However, on the other hand, the treatment using Apretude begins with two shots being administered in a month’s interval following which patients will be injected in every two months.
Dr. Debra Birnkrant, Director of Division of Antivirals in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation has commented that the dose given every two months will cater to the HIV epidemic across the US by aiding individuals at high risk and for whom daily medication has been a challenge.
For the uninitiated, the oral medications have been effective in the prevention of HIV, but many difficulties remain unaddressed regarding awareness and adherence to a clinical programme. It has been reported that patients are usually not direct in discussing their sexual habits which restricts the doctor from providing an appropriate treatment.
According to reports, the injectable treatment for prevention of HIV will be highly used by adults and adolescents at-risk.
It has been speculated that medications like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs are advised to almost 1.2 million people in the U.S alone and 25% of the unit received a prescription for these pills in 2020.
For the record, two clinical trials have been conducted to check the effectiveness of Apretude in the fight against HIV.