×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

People living with HIV to access injectable treatment

News
PEOPLE living with HIV could soon access injectable treatment which is more convenient and less stigmatising than daily oral pills, scientists at the 9th International Aids Society Conference on HIV Science in Paris, France, have revealed.

PEOPLE living with HIV could soon access injectable treatment which is more convenient and less stigmatising than daily oral pills, scientists at the 9th International Aids Society Conference on HIV Science in Paris, France, have revealed.

BY PHYLLIS MBANJE

Addressing journalists at the conference, researcher Joseph Eron from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, yesterday revealed that results from the 96-week LATTE-2 study found that patients receiving the long-acting injectable tolerated it well and achieved high rates of virologic response.

The four-week dosing schedule is now being evaluated in phase III studies and if approved would improve and encourage adherence rates.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries that have experienced adherence challenges amid reports of misuse and mismanagement of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) as reflected by the ballooning cases of second-line treatment countrywide.

A patient is initiated on second line drugs if the first line of treatment fails and this is normally as a result of failure to adhere to treatment regime. The National Aids Council 2015 report revealed that people on second line treatment were 15 337, an increase from the 13 036 recorded in 2014.

According to the Community Working Group on Health, poor adherence to ART has been shown to be a major determinant of disease progression, mortality and health care costs.

Meanwhile, researchers also said they had identified a promising vaccine candidate that would be evaluated in a proof-of-concept efficacy study among those at risk of HIV.

Of interest was the identification of a simpler treatment for HIV-associated cryptococcol meningitis, which kills more than 100 000 people each year.

The current “gold standard” treatment for cryptococcal meningitis is amphotericin plus flucytosine for two weeks, but this regimen is often unavailable in low-income countries.

Sile Molloy of St George’s, University of London presented results from the ACTA Trial, which explored two new strategies that could be both sustainable in Africa and more effective than fluconazole, which is most commonly used in resource-limited settings. — Online/Staff Reporter