New HIV treatment lasts for three months?

Reserchers from Rockefeller University and ADARC have managed to work out a new drug to prevent from HIV infections.

Today, HIV infections are completely treatable due to antiretroviral medication, but those drugs must be taken regularly. However, this is impossible for many HIV-positive individuals. A new antiretroviral drug called cabotegravir, however, may solve this widespread problem, since it only requires injection once every three months, Medical Daily reports.

HIV, like all viruses, thrives by replicating itself, thus turning our body’s cells into little HIV-making factories. Antiretrovirals interfere with HIV’s ability to replicate. The drugs are used not only on HIV patients to keep the virus at bay, but also as a preventive measure on individuals who are at an increased chance of catching the virus. There are currently more than 20 approved antiretroviral drugs approved for use in the U.S. and Europe, and once a patient starts an antiretroviral regimen, it's best he adheres to it. Unfortunately, this is difficult for many, but researchers believe that cabotegravir may change this.

According to a new research, cabotegravir targets the enzyme the HIV virus uses to integrate itself into the cell’s genome. The new drug has a bonus of working for months before needing to be replenished.

One of the participants of research, Dr. Martin Markowitz says, that at the moment, a phase 2 trial on low-risk humans is underway. Once this is completed successfully, it will be tested on high-risk human subjects. Their aim is to help people under the risk of high levels. Tests have shown that cabotegravir injections were 90 percent effective in protecting monkeys from the vaginal transmission of a virus similar to HIV even after repeated high-dose exposures.

''We are still a long away off from showing that this drug works for HIV prevention in humans. Our hope is that one day we can offer it to high risk women, as well as men, as an additional option for HIV prevention," Markowitz said

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