The findings were unveiled during the 10th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference in Mexico City (AFP Photo/RODRIGO ARANGUA) |
Paris (AFP) - A matchstick-sized implant could revolutionise HIV prevention regimes after early trials suggested the device could stop at-risk people contracting the virus for up to a year at a time, new research showed Tuesday.
Unveiling
their findings from a clinical trial at the 10th annual International AIDS
Society conference in Mexico City, developers said the device could eventually
offer a novel approach to HIV suppression.
It uses a
molecule called MK-8591, which is roughly 10 times stronger as an HIV inhibitor
than medicines currently on the market, and which has a very high barrier
against resistance.
"It
slowly releases the drug and maintains a very consistent level of the drug in
your body and taking this prophylactically it can actually prevent you from
getting infected," Mike Robertson, director global clinical development
for virology at MSD research, told AFP.
Currently,
individuals at high risk of contracting HIV have to take a pill every day in
order to guarantee their protection.
In its
annual report on the disease, the United Nations this month said that global
AIDS deaths had fallen one third since 2010 to roughly 770,000 in 2018.
But it
warned that the decline in new infection rates was slowing worldwide, and in
some regions including Eastern Europe and the Middle East, rates were
increasing dramatically.
Robertson
said that the implant, or even a monthly pill containing the same active
ingredient could provide more options for at risk communities.
"The
people that are at highest risk are different populations -- for example men
who have sex with men still remain in the US and Europe the group that has the
highest rate of new infections," he said.
"But
globally the highest incidence rate is in young women in sub-Saharan Africa and
this is another group where most the new infections are occurring."
Anton
Pozniak, International AIDS Society president, said that the implant
"offers another choice for those who might in the future also have pills
and injectables available" to prevent infection.
Tuesday
also saw fresh analysis unveiled on a recent clinical trial into the safety and
tolerability of a HIV vaccine.
The Phase 2
trial took place in Kenya, Rwanda and the United States among healthy,
low-risk, HIV negative adults. The initial results showed that the vaccines
were well-tolerated among subjects.
A Phase 3
trial is now in planning.
"These
are very promising times in HIV vaccine research, with multiple efficacy
clinical trials ongoing, new approaches in development, and a growing sense
that we may be getting closer to an effective vaccine," said Global HIV
Vaccine Enterprise Director Roger Tatoud.
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