GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) said a long-acting two-drug injection has similar efficacy to the daily three pills currently given to people with HIV-1.
This was the headline finding from two phase-III studies involving cabotegravir and rilpivirine carried out by GSK sUBSidiary ViiV Healthcare.
The FLAIR and ATLAS trials could herald the introduction of a once-monthly HIV antiretroviral – subject, of course, to regulatory clearance.
READ: UBS strips GSK of ‘buy’ recommendation on near-term fears for its ViiV HIV division
The update comes in the week that it emerged a third person had possibly been cured of a disease that was during the 1980s considered a death sentence.
ViiV’s chief medical officer, John Pottage, said he was encouraged by the data from the final-stage clinical assessment of the injectable.
“If approved, this two-drug regimen would give people living with HIV one month between each dose of antiretroviral therapy, changing HIV treatment from 365 dosing days per year, to just 12,” he added.
The HIV market is estimated to worth £21bn annually, although the analyst has currently only pencilled in sales of £525mln a year by 2025 for the new ViiV treatment.
Of more interest to clinicians is the potential to ameliorate the impact of these drugs on the body,
Professor Chloe Orkin, an HIV specialist at Queen Mary University of London, quoted in the Financial Times, said: “Reducing the cumulative toxicity over a life course, in terms of the number of drugs you put into the body, is of great interest to patients.”