Healthcare Funds Development of First Drug to Treat Multidrug-Resistant HIV

There are an estimated 1,000,000 in Spain. 250 people with multidrug-resistant HIV several families of antiretroviral drugs with unsuppressed viral load that do not have an effective treatment regimen to control it. This situation results in them having a difficult prognosis and finding themselves in a situation of great vulnerability. In addition, multidrug resistance pose a huge problem not only for the health of these patients but also for public health, since they exist possibility of HIV transmission.

There are people with multidrug-resistant HIV and an unsuppressed viral load. increased risk of opportunistic infectionscomorbidities, progression to AIDS and the risk of death. Added to this is the fact that they are exposed to greater toxicity, since “they are subjected to more complex treatment regimens, using more pills and more times a day,” as explained by Luz Martin, a specialist in the HIV department at the Universitario La Paz de Madrid, who noted that “since the virus is not controlled, the risk of progression and the risk of transmission increases their psychological problems and entail greater emotional stress.

In response to this reality, Gilead announced on Tuesday the arrival in Spain sunlenka (lenacapavir), first funded HIV drug held twice a year subcutaneously at the meeting “Multiple drug resistance of HIV: a serious clinical and public health problem.”

Faced with this reality, lenacapavir, a capsid inhibitor with innovative multiple mechanism of action and no known cross-resistance with other classes of antiretroviral families, demonstrated 83 percent efficacy in terms of virological suppressionadministered subcutaneously twice a year in combination with optimized background treatment after 52 weeks of follow-up, according to the results of the international CAPELLA study.

For his part, José Luis Blanco, a specialist in the infectious diseases service at the Barcelona Hospital Clinic, called his arrival in Spain “great news because it will allow control viral replication in humans in which this has not been achieved at present due to the presence of a highly resistant virus.” Blanco also highlighted “its interesting mechanism of action, as it acts at different levels of the virus’s life cycle, as well as its dosage, to be semi-annual subcutaneous injection which will make it easier to administer to the patient.

Added to the results in terms of efficacy is the safety profile, as it is well tolerated and all observed adverse events are mild or moderatewithout any serious problems associated with the drug. As for the discontinuation of treatment, there was only one case caused by a mild ISR (injection site reaction).

Its importance for public health

The effectiveness of the new treatment not only has a positive impact on the lives of people with HIVhelping them achieve and maintain good viral load control and make it undetectable in blood tests. As the I=I (Undetectable=Untransmittable) concept indicates, those who represent undetectable level of virus They can’t transmit it, so it’s a health benefit as well.

This becomes even more relevant when it comes to transmission of deformation The virus had already mutated and shown resistance to various drugs, which Martin noted “would be difficult to control in an untreated patient.”

“In Gilead we were convinced lenacapavir meaningwhich is now added to our HIV portfolio. Today we can say that this is a new innovation from Gilead that meets our commitment to all people living with HIVespecially the most vulnerable, after 16 years of internal investigation, during which we tested over 4000 molecules” said Pau Arbos, director of the HIV department at Gilead in Spain and Portugal.