Study shows superiority of ViiV's long-acting cabotegravir over oral PrEP Truvada

Specialty HIV company ViiV Healthcare, majority owned by GlaxoSmithKline (LES: GSK), has presented from the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 083 study demonstrating the superior efficacy of investigational, long-acting, injectable cabotegravir administered every two months when compared to daily oral emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 200mg and 300mg (FTC/TDF) tablets for HIV prevention.

HPTN 083 is a Phase IIb/III randomized, multicenter, double-blind, clinical trial that is evaluating the safety and efficacy of long-acting, injectable cabotegravir for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women who have sex with men.

ViiV recently won approval from the Canadian medicines regulator for Cabenuva (cabotegravir/rilpivirine), the first and only once-monthly, complete long-acting regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. The combo was developed in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) pharma arm Janssen, the developer of rilpivirine, which markets the drug as Edurant.