Gilead Sciences announced that its late-stage study revealed the injectable drug lenacapavir to be more effective in preventing HIV infection in women compared to the company’s existing daily pill, Truvada. The study reported zero incident cases of HIV among women who received lenacapavir.
The company highlighted that lenacapavir was well-tolerated, with no significant or new safety concerns, and more detailed data will be presented at a future conference. According to the CDC, approximately 1.2 million people in the United States have HIV.
Truvada, a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine, is used to treat HIV and in a prevention regimen known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which can reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99%. Lenacapavir, marketed as Sunlenca and administered twice a year, was approved in the U.S. in 2022 as a long-acting treatment option for heavily pre-treated patients with resistant HIV.
As reported by Economic Times, the study included over 5,300 cisgender women and adolescent girls aged 16-25, who were given either lenacapavir, Descovy, or Truvada. Cisgender individuals identify as the sex assigned to them at birth, whereas transgender and non-binary individuals do not conform exclusively to male or female identities.
Descovy, a once-daily pill approved in 2019, is used to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV infection in men and transgender women who have sex with men. Gilead anticipates results from another late-stage trial testing lenacapavir for PrEP among men who have sex with men, transgender men, transgender women, and gender non-binary individuals by late 2024 or early 2025.