New drug offers complete protection against HIV in trial for young African women

A shot given just twice a year could herald a breakthrough in protecting the population with the highest infection rates.

Researchers and activists in the trenches of the long fight against HIV. received rare, exciting news this week: Results from a large clinical trial in Africa showed that a twice-yearly injection of a new antiviral drug gave young women full protection against the virus.

“I got cold shivers,” said Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, an investigator in the trial of the drug lenacapavir, describing the startling sight of a line of zeros in the data column for new infections. “After all our years of sadness, especially about vaccines, this is really surreal.”

Yvette Raphael, leader of a group called Advocacy for Prevention of HIV. and AIDS in South Africa, said it was "the best news ever."

The randomized controlled trial, called Objective 1, was conducted in Uganda and South Africa. The study tested whether lenacapavir injection every six months, made by Gilead Sciences, would provide better protection against HIV. infection than two other drugs widely used in high-income countries, both in the form of daily pills.

The results were so convincing that the trial was stopped prematurely on the recommendation of the independent body. data review committee, which said all participants should be offered the shot because it clearly offered superior protection against the virus.

None of the 2 134 women in the arm of the trial who received lenacapavir and contracted HIV. For comparison, 16 of 1,068 women (1.5%) who took Truvada, a daily pill available for more than a decade, and 39 of 2,136 women (1.8%) who received new daily pill called Descovy were infected.

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