MIT Technology Review January 3, 2025
A new drug is hugely effective at protecting people from HIV infection and needs to be injected only twice a year.
In June 2024, results from a trial of a new medicine to prevent HIV were announced—and they were jaw-dropping. Lenacapavir, a treatment injected once every six months, protected over 5,000 girls and women in Uganda and South Africa from getting HIV. And it was 100% effective.
The drug, which is produced by Gilead, has other advantages. We’ve had effective pre-exposure prophylactic (PrEP) drugs for HIV since 2012, but these must be taken either daily or in advance of each time a person is exposed to the virus. That’s a big ask for healthy people. And because these medicines also...