LAI Roadmap...

 

This piece is a statement from a senior VP from ViiV Healthcare.  It's a plan to embrace decades of research, development & patient input to develop the future of HIV/AIDS treatment with the endgame of ending the virus.

The focus is on long acting injectables (LAI).  Some for prevention, others for treatment.  They could come in varying injection intervals.  This isn't a cure, it's a siege war against HIV.  If the virus can't spread & is contained in those currently HIV+, it will either die out with those patients or be handled if a cure ever is developed.

Like all things with HIV, this is now & will continue to be in development, striving to be the best approach possible.  Again, this isn't a cure, but it's a solid step to ending HIV.

Give this a read.  Take care.

Cya...

New Med Development...

 

According to this piece, ViiV has a new long acting medication in phase 1 research.  The piece doesn't go into much detail other than obscurely listed 2 drugs in the new medication.  VH184 is list as an integrase inhibitor.   VH499 is listed a capsid inhibitor.  

At this point, there isn't much more known about the medication.  It's aimed to be another long acting medication, usually twice a year.  Another biannual med on the market could move these drugs to the forefront of treatment & drive down costs due to competition.  

That's all for now, take care.

Cya...

More Long Options

Viiv is promoting findings for their long acting PrEP & HIV meds.  They promote data that supports the efficacy of & preference for their long acting meds; Apretude, Vocabria & Cabenuva.  These injections aren't as long acting as Gilead's Lenacapavir.  There may be other reasons to prefer Viiv's options.

The company has also pledged to let some low income countries manufacture & market generic versions of these meds.  Making these drugs far more affordable.  This & Gilead's similar pledge were most likely due to public pressure & the US ceasing funding to HIV programs.

That's all for now, take care.

Cya...

3 Points...

 

I have 3 things to post about this morning.  This article is good for me.  It's a piece discussing how ViiV's Dovato is highly effective in treating naive HIV in patients with advanced cases.   There'd been pieces on patients on other regimens prior to Dovato, but this is the 1st time I've seen anything on people starting with the med.

Next, it's brighter this morning & I'm feeling somewhat better.  I'm not completely over this, but I slept a little better last night.   Maybe I'll be over this soon.

Finally, for more than a decade people have been sniping for others to "read the room" or have a little empathy.  Accusing people of being tone-deaf was also common.    It's seems the Democrats did not read the room or any of those other idioms.  Perhaps if the party I voted for had, they'd realized how many people felt disenfranchised by the message they were selling.  However, the Republicans didn't succeed at that well either.  That's obvious by the massive amount of people who simply didn't vote.  

Good news about Dovato.  I'm glad I'm feeling a little better.  I'm trying to come to terms with this political BS.  My wish for those who empowered the orange bastard is, when he finally screws them over, someone in the most vile way laughingly reminds them of who they voted for.  As for the non-voters, maybe they should stay under their rocks.  As for me, I probably will be registered as an independent for the next go around.  

That's all, take care.

Cya...

High & Low Point Uggh...

 

I have an article & some crappy news.  I'll start with the article.  GlaxoSmithKline & ViiV Healthcare are have released a long acting injection of of Cabotegravir, sold as Cabenuva.  This news has been out for a bit.  It's a bimonthly injection given at the doctor's office for treating HIV.  They're currently working to extend the time between doses.  However, the news is that they're trying to have this medication be something that is self administered at home every 3 months.  They'd like to see that by the end of the decade.   This is doable.  The base meds are there.  With a little improvement & using current at home injection pens, this could happen.

On to the crap news.  At this moment, I no longer have a primary care physician.  I called to confirm my upcoming Monday appointment (it was the Wednesday before) & was told he had taken medical leave, retired & was not coming back into the office.  Now, I'm scrambling to find a new doctor.  It will probably be a nurse practitioner since there are very few actual doctors left in my area.  I have some ideas, but I'm not sure at this time.  I didn't need this stress.

That's my life at the moment.  More stress & another long term relationship ending without so much as a good bye.  

Hope things are better for everyone else.

Cya...

Long Run Efficacy...

 

This article is about ViiV's study of their long acting injected HIV medication, Cabenuva vs the daily Biktarvy.    The injected med is a dual & the other is a daily, oral, triple ingredient medication.   While I think this should've been done before going to market, at least it's being done now.

A point of concern is how much this research will include women in the study.  The article uses the word, "women," multiple times.  Most of the references are directly & actively referring to transgender women.  Only the most indirect statement just used "women".   HIV pharmaceutical research has been notably horrible about it's lack of inclusion of women in the studies.

We'll have to wait for the outcome.

Take care.

Cya...

Newsish...

 

I saw a couple of pieces today, neither really worth citing though.  The 1st noted ViiV is filing with the FDC to lower the weight of person allowed to take Triumeq from 80 to 30 pounds.  This would allow the medication to be used in children's regimens.

The next piece was a continuance of the confusion surrounding HIV & COVID.  This focused on HIV+ people's strength of reaction to the vaccine.  This brief stated in their research HIV+ people had lesser responses to the vaccine, but I never saw a suggestion of how much weaker.  It also implied the recipients of  Pfizer's vaccine had a far weaker response than those who'd received Moderna's.  Info regarding everything connected to HIV & COVID has changed nearly weekly.  I'd wait & see how this plays out before putting stock in this.

Cya...

FDA Approved...

 

I blogged the European Union approved a long acting injectable med for HIV  based on cabotegravir & rilpivirine.  The injection, Cabenuva is given monthly.   An oral regimen will proceed it for a month & is marketed as, Vocabria.  ViiV Healthcare is researching how to extend the time between injections.  The FDA recently approved this med.

 Taken from the piece.

The most common adverse reactions ... were injection site reactions, fever (pyrexia), fatigue, headache, musculoskeletal pain, nausea, sleep disorders, dizziness and rash. 

I'll try to keep up with this.  Take care

Cya...

Better For Women...

 

Finally some good news for women about HIV meds.  This piece covers research into Cabotegravir from ViiV.  After much medical research excluding women, this was actually aimed at their needs.  

Cabotegravir was developed as a maintenance med for those with well controlled HIV.  However, instead of a daily pill, it's an injection given every 2 months.  This led to it's use as a PrEP drug.

I normally oppose PrEP,  But, this med has shown to be effective.  It also means people have to see medical professional.  

The primary seller here is this research was done in Africa.  This medication means these women can take the drug without anyone else knowing.  They don't have to fear stigma as much.  It helps lessen exposure if their partner isn't cooperative or they're assaulted.

In these instances, this med has proven to be 80% more effective than Truvada.  That's staggering.  Between that & its discreet nature, I can't oppose it.  Especially under these circumstances.   If this article doesn't work for you, this info is easily found on the net.

Cya...

Rain...

It's been raining since yesterday afternoon.  It's nearing an inch.  There are flood watches in local areas.  Of course it's been loud, crashing thunderstorms & not just rain.   At least it knocked the heat down.  We'll still have some 90s, but it looks like most the major heat will be gone for a bit.

This piece is an update on ViiV's HIV injections.  The monthly could start rolling out in December.  The new injection would be for 2 months instead of just 1.  It's still being researched, but could go up for approval soon.

Cya...

Happening...

According to this statement, the conglomerate pharmaceutical company ViiV & Janssen are co-filing an application with the FDA for approval of a once-monthly, injectable regimen.  The injection is composed of a medication from each parent company.  This means they are in final stages of development.  

This could soon be a reality for people living with HIV. Moves like this could change the way HIV is handled. A single, periodic injection would be much to maintain than a daily regimen.  It would require the patient to see a medical professional. They could be better monitored.  This seems like a win.

Cya...

New Pill On The Block...

Gilead's leading HIV med Biktarvy is about to be challenged by a new 2-drug regimen GlaxoSmithKline has in final stages of development.  The once daily pill hasn't been named yet but is similar to ViiV's Juulca.  Juluca is a combo of dolutegravir & rilpivirine.  While GSK's new med is basically Triumeq minus the Abacavir.  That'd mean the patient wouldn't need an Abacavir sensitivity test.

Juluca came out last year & GSK's med could be approved later this year or 2019. The best things about 2-drug regimens are that they should have lower cost, less potential reactions/interactions & any problems with the med should be easier to decipher.  2-drug regimens may not be the answer for every situation.  But, every bit helps & keeps the science moving forward. 

I appreciate GSK & ViiV more than Gilead.   Gilead has allowed it's drive for profits to push PrEP over other avenues.  The majority of Gilead's recent HIV meds are variations on Truvada.  Most of their meds contain the same 2 primary meds at varying dosages plus 1 or 2 differents drugs.  It's all basically varying degrees of PrEP.  IMO, GSK's singular approach & mentality is a problem.

Take care.

Cya...