Principal Investigator at the University of Zimbabwe’s
Clinical Trials Research Centre Dr Nyaradzo Mgodi said the new drug was going
to be a game-changer in the area around HIV prevention as pill fatigue was
taking a toll on the population.
“We have started work on a new drug called Islatravir that
we are investigating to see if it can prevent HIV infection if taken once a
month only. One will not have to take one pill every day, rather, we are doing
research to see its effectiveness if taken once a month.
“Islatravir is a form of an Antiretroviral Drug, these
drugs, however, have various classes as some prevent infection from HIV, some
attack the virus as soon as the virus enters the cells and so on. Islatravir is
effective in that it prevents HIV infection in two ways as it enters the body.
As scientists we are looking into that this new drug be taken once a month as a
form of HIV prevention while comparing it with Truvada which is taken daily,”
she said in an interview.
Dr Mgodi said there was a challenge of pill fatigue and
defaulting as drugs were taken daily.
“We realised that people experience pill fatigue by taking
one pill every day of their lives so we want to see how Islatravir will fare
since it is taken once a month,”’ she said.
Dr Mgodi, who has vast experience in clinical trials on HIV
prevention in women said there was a need to give women the choice of
protecting themselves from HIV infection. According to Avert Global HIV
statistics for 2018, young women are at risk with 6 200 new infections each
week among young people aged 15-24 occurring in this group. In Sub-Saharan
Africa four in five new infections are among girls aged between 15 and 19 and
young women whose ages range from 15 to 24 are twice as likely to be living
with HIV as men.
“For us to protect women from the scourge of HIV and Aids
we have to give each and every woman a choice she can use to protect herself.
We already have the Dapivirine ring which can be inserted into the reproductive
organ of a woman and it releases the ARVs slowly over a period of 28-35 days as
a way of preventing HIV infection. There is also an injectable dolutegravir,
another HIV prevention drug and the Truvada drug, which is Pre-Exposure
Prophylaxis taken daily which aids in protecting one from HIV infection,” said
Dr Mgodi.
Dr Mgodi said the new trials were motivated by people who
wanted a different option but were still taking ARVs orally.
“In our research we discovered that there was a group of
people who did not want an injection, the vaginal ring or implants but
preferred to take drugs orally but they also did not want to take the drugs
every day. Taking any drugs orally everyday is a challenge. We know that drugs
like Truvada for HIV prevention work very well but what makes it fail to work properly
is as a result of people forgetting to take their drugs every day,” she added. Sunday News
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