New HIV fighting drug boosts GSK

THE battle against HIV received a boost after GSK reported data showing one of its drugs can be taken as little as three times a year.

ViiV Healthcare, the company’s HIV medicine arm, said a clinical trial of a new formulation of its long-acting treatment Cabotegravir had shown it could be taken ‘at least’ once every four months to provide protection against infection.

This is in stark contrast to most HIV prevention treatments, which require users to take tablets every day to protect themselves from the virus.

It is also longer than the twomonth interval that GSK recommends for Cabotegravir.

The firm said it is planning to begin large- scale trials of the new formula later this year with the aim of bringing it to market by 2026.

In addition to prevention, the drug can be used by those living with HIV to control the infection, and lasted longer than the current method of taking daily tablets. GSK said it is aiming to allow the use of Cabotegravir for HIV treatment by 2027.

Kimberly Smith, ViiV’s head of research, said: ‘The HIV community has told us of their desire for longer-acting medicines that can help alleviate the burden of daily treatment.

‘This new formulation of Cabotegravir, with a higher concentration and at least double the half-life, puts us on the path toward delivering dosing at every four months.’

The data follows previous comments from ViiV’s chief executive deborah waterhouse that the company is working on a six-month jab for HIV prevention and treatment and that an annual injection, the equivalent of a flu jab, is likely to become a reality in the early 2030s.

ViiV is majority- owned by GSK but rival Pfizer and Japanese outfit Shionogi have stakes in the business.

Ultra-long-acting HIV treatments form a key plank of GSK’s attempts to hit over £38bn in sales by 2031.

Last year, HIV treatments raked in sales of £6.4bn for GSK, around 21pc of its total revenues of £30.3bn.

GSK shares rose by 0.4pc.