the body so that the patient may only have to take it once a week, possibly even less. There appears to be a low rate of side effects. All good news. But it doesn’t end there.
Current studies are ongoing to determine if Islatravir can be used for PrEP. New forms of the delivering of the drug in the body are being explored that may allow dosing, get this…once a year! Imagine being protected against HIV for a whole year without having to take pills every day!
But remember, PrEP only protects from HIV and NOT Hepatitis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, syphilis or Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. While most of these infections can be cured or prevented by vaccination, some are getting more and more difficult to treat as these infections become resistant to the drugs used to treat them (just as HIV can do).
Speaking of resistance, Islatravir appears to be able to work well against HIV virus that is resistant to other drugs in that class. This leads us to the results of the study that was presented this summer in Mexico City at the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference.
In this study sponsored by Merck, Patients with new HIV infection were randomized to receive one of three doses of Islatravir, combined with the drug Doravirine and Tenofovir. Then after 24 weeks of viral suppression, the tenofovir was