GSK's ViiV upbeat on ultra-long-acting HIV treatment study

GSK announced on Tuesday that its specialist GIV joint venture with Pfizer and Shionogi, ViiV Healthcare, had reported encouraging results from its phase one clinical trial of an investigational formulation of cabotegravir, termed cabotegravir ultra long-acting (CAB-ULA).

The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the study showed that CAB-ULA allowed for dosing intervals of at least four months, marking a significant advancement in the development of ultra-long-acting injectable HIV treatment and prevention medications.

It said the findings, presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2024) in Denver, Colorado, demonstrated the potential of CAB-ULA to double the current dosing interval.

Importantly, the intramuscular administration of CAB-ULA exhibited a favourable safety and pharmacokinetic profile, supporting the feasibility of extending the dose interval.

With the promising results, ViiV was proceeding with a registrational study of CAB-ULA this year, focusing on its potential for HIV prevention in adults.

Additionally, future research would explore its use in combination with other medications to form a complete, ultra-long-acting HIV treatment regimen.

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

“ViiV Healthcare is a pioneer and leader in the development of long-acting HIV medicine, having already brought innovations through injectable therapies to the HIV community.

“This new formulation of cabotegravir (CAB-ULA) with a higher concentration and at least double the half-life puts us on the path toward delivering dosing every four months for HIV treatment and PrEP.”

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.