The Continued Promise of Long-Acting Injectable Therapy for HIV Treatment

In the African CARES trial, long-acting injectable therapy was noninferior to continued oral therapy.

Long-acting injectable therapy for HIV is an important new option, but data have been lacking for settings in which prior therapy, viral subtypes, and healthcare infrastructures differ from those in high-income countries. In the CARES study, investigators in Africa randomized 512 participants (58% female) already receiving oral HIV therapy (viral load, <50 copies/mL; no history of virologic failure; 74% with prior nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor [NNRTI] exposure; 58% women) to continue oral therapy or switch to intramuscular cabotegravir/rilpivirine (CAB/RPV) every 8 weeks. Retrospective analysis showed that 54% of participants had viral subtype A1, and 14% and 16% had archived RPV and CAB resistance mutations, respectively.

At…

Reviewing Author

Wendy S. Armstrong, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardNIH Therapeutics and Prevention Data Safety Monitoring Board

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Board of Internal Medicine Infectious Diseases Subspecialty Board (member), Infectious Diseases Society of America (Vice President)

Wendy S. Armstrong, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardNIH Therapeutics and Prevention Data Safety Monitoring Board

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Board of Internal Medicine Infectious Diseases Subspecialty Board (member), Infectious Diseases Society of America (Vice President)

The Continued Promise of Long-Acting Injectable Therapy for HIV Treatment

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Reviewing Author