Hundreds of Kenyan girls to get bimonthly injection to prevent HIV

Hundreds of college-age girls in Kenya will receive an injection once every two months to prevent HIV, in a new study that begins in Kenya this year.

The drug they will get is nine times more powerful than the daily PrEP pills and does not require they use other forms of protection, such as condoms.

Although the injectable drug, known as CAB LA (short for Cabotegravir long acting), has already been proven to be effective in preventing HIV, it is still not available in Kenya.

The current study will support the guidelines being made to help introduce it in Kenya.

The young women-all under 25 years-will be followed for one to three years.

Researchers will evaluate how service providers can best deliver new PrEP methods, including the cost. They will also assess how people in the community feel about PrEP.

This announcement was made by the study leader, a consortium known as Maximising Options to Advance Informed Choice for HIV Prevention (Mosaic), which is funded by Pepfar through Usaid and led by FHI 360.

It is part of Catalysing Access to New Prevention Products to Stop HIV (Catalyst), a three-year, multi-country implementation study that aims to assess the delivery of multiple PrEP methods to an estimated 11,000 participants without HIV.

“We believe in the potential that CAB-LA can have on changing the trajectory of the HIV epidemic,” said Dr Harmony Garges, chief medical officer at ViiV Healthcare, a British multinational pharmaceutical company that is supplying the drug for the study.

“Implementation science plays a critical role in helping generate evidence and learning to support greater access to innovative options, and we are committed to supporting FHI 360 and partners as they implement the Catalyst study.”

 The study is taking place across 28 public health service delivery sites supported by Pepfar in Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. As of March 31, nearly 4,000 participants had been enrolled.

In a statement, FHI360 said South Africa and Zimbabwe have received the drug following regulatory approval and the arrival of donated products on site.

Kenya has still not completed the regulatory approvals.

“The participants have the opportunity to be among the first to learn about and try new PrEP methods,” said Dr Kristine Torjesen, director of science facilitation at FHI 360.

“They will also make their voices heard in how PrEP is rolled out in their communities, which is critical given that adolescent girls and young women continue to bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic in many places.”

Despite these efforts, CAB-LA PrEP may not be widely available in Kenya for several years.

In addition, it is likely to be more expensive than oral PrEP, which may cause the government to delay offering it as part of universal healthcare or as a firstchoice option.

Head of the National Syndemic Diseases Control Control Dr Ruth Masha told the Star several things must happen before the drug is available widely.

The Ministry of Health is working to customise the injectable PREP guidelines in Kenya.

“We must also look at the cost because we must allow a product that we can afford,” she said at the national leaders conference organised by Nephak, an association of Kenyans living with HIV.

Cabotegravir is an antiretroviral drug that has been proven to be incredibly effective in controlling HIV infections.

The injectable version is priced at more than $22,000 per person per year in the US.

However, ViiV Healthcare has signed a licensing agreement with Medicines Patent Pool—an organisation supported by the United Nations to increase access to medicines in low and middle-income countries.

This agreement will allow local manufacturers in 90 low- and middle-income countries to develop, manufacture and supply a generic version of injectable CAB.

Some estimates show the price could drop to around Sh33,750 ($250) per person per year. That’s still about five times as much as oral PrEP costs.