Experts say a twice-yearly injection that offers 100% protection against HIV is exciting news

(24 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cape Town, South Africa - 23 July 2024
1. Various lab technicians sort through sample bottles of blood tests at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation
2. Wide of specimen bag with sample bottles which are sent to Switzerland for testing
3. Wide of Clinical Trials Coordinator Thandeka Nkosi enters the laboratory
4. Wide Nkosi engaging with lab technicians
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Thandeka Nkosi, Clinical Trials Coordinator at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation:
"With the twice yearly injectable, we see, we know that participants will be quite excited about, just purely because the injectable versus the the pill. We've seen how adherence is not always the greatest when it comes to the pill, purely because of different reasons, time, the ability to go and pet and fetch those pills from the clinics. And so with the injectable and twice yearly this gives a participant more choice. Also in terms of the stigma, we know that, when participants are on these pre-exposure prophylaxis pills, there is a sense of stigma where people think that they are HIV positive and not necessarily trying to prevent HIV."
6. Wide pharmacist preparing to extract the injectables
7. Various of pharmacist extracting Lenacapivir from the vial with a syringe
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Thandeka Nkosi, Clinical Trials Coordinator at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation:
"First. Our first priority are our participants. So our participants that were or are in the trial are receiving now the the, Lenacapivir. In terms of what Gilead science is doing now is, they have, offered the licenses to other drug companies. And so we are hoping that with that competition, affordability, in terms of affordability, we would be in a good playing field with participants or patients receiving Lenacapivir."
9. Various of the Lenacapivir vial
10. Wide of street scene in Masiphumelele township
11. Wide Desmond Tutu Health Foundation field workers walking
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Olwethu Kemele, Community Field Worker:
"So the injectable will be really great for the young girls because they will come in like each and every six months compared to taking a pill each and every day. So it will be almost like when you come in for your contraceptive, so for them, it will be really great. It will boost the number of people who are coming in to take the injection, so it will lower the rate of HIV in the community."
13. Various street scenes of Masiphumelele township
STORYLINE:
Twice-yearly shots used to treat AIDS were 100% effective in preventing new infections in women, according to study results published Wednesday.
There were no infections in the young women and girls that got the shots in a study of about 5,000 in South Africa and Uganda, researchers reported. In a group given daily prevention pills, roughly 2% ended up catching HIV from infected sex partners.
“To see this level of protection is stunning,” said Salim Abdool Karim of the injections. He is director of an AIDS research center in Durban, South Africa, who was not part of the research.
The shots made by U.S. drugmaker Gilead and sold as Sunlenca are approved in the U.S., Canada, Europe and elsewhere, but only as a treatment for HIV. The company said it is waiting for results of testing in men before seeking permission to use it to protect against infection.
The prospect of a twice-a-year shot is “quite revolutionary news” for our patients, said Thandeka Nkosi, who helped run the Gilead research at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Masiphumelele, South Africa.
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[@khulakpamatimkhan9707]

Just protection or cure able

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