Kenyan scientists announce world’s first anti-HIV drug taken annually

The treatment of HIV presupposes daily intake of antiretroviral drugs and does not eliminate the virus from the body. Antiretroviral therapy has been prolonged and HIV has been used since the 1990s, so the death sentence has disappeared. But a new breakthrough drug to be taken annually was announced by Professor Benson Edagua, a Kenyan scientist based in the United States.

Called long-acting sustained-release antiretroviral therapy (Laser Art), this invention means that people living with HIV can only take the drug once a year. Current medicine requires people living with HIV to take it daily. This painstaking work is due to the low compliance of people living with HIV. Professor Edagwa of the University of Nebraska School of Medicine and his team modified an existing ARV drug, cabotegravir, to “allow the body to slowly absorb and release from tissues for 12 months.”

“This happens over a long period of time and in laboratory and animal studies for up to a year,” said Edagwa. The new formulation will be given as an injection once a year.

Most importantly, the new tablets are not a cure for HIV. But, according to scientists, it could also act as a vaccine for healthy people who have unprotected sex.

The new drug has passed safety testing after being tested in mice and non-human primates. The new drug proved to be safe. By combining Laser Art and gene editing technology, we eliminated mouse HIV.

The University of Nebraska School of Medicine says: “To date, no adverse side effects have been proven in any animal testing model. Human testing has not begun, but the development needed to achieve this goal has not been confirmed by scientists at the Clinton Health Access Initiative. We are in the process of receiving support. “

Professor Edagwa developed a new tablet with the help of UNMC virologist and fellow scholar Professor Howard Genderman, who chairs the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience.

Professor Genderman said: “This drug development has the potential to prevent as well as treat viral infections. This could certainly be a therapeutic milestone.”

This state-of-the-art innovation was created by “chemically converting cabotegravir into nanocrystals, allowing the body’s enzymes to slowly convert the modified drug into its active form. It is slowly released from the store. ”Current ARV drugs do not have the ability to reach certain parts of the body where HIV is hiding. There are lymph nodes and the central nervous system in virus reservoirs that are hidden by viruses and currently out of reach of drugs. Current ARV drugs have been modified to reach the spleen, bone marrow, and brain where the virus may be hidden. Next, Professor Edagwa and his team used a gene-editing tool (Crispr) to cut out the DNA fragment to which HIV was still attached.

“The crisp solution is given as an intravenous injection. Laserart helps Crispr identify the proviral section of DNA and cut it out.

The new drug (Cabotegravir or CAB) was recognized as a major milestone as far as eliminating the burden of daily medication. However, some have pointed out that the drug may take some time to reach Kenya and Africa.

The new drug was created by ViiV Healthcare, a pharmaceutical subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline, which specializes in developing treatments for HIV infection.

About 39.9 million people live with HIV in the world. The African region accounts for the largest number of these statistics, with approximately 25.7 million living with HIV. We believe new CAB drugs will go a long way in dramatically reducing these numbers.