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Twice-Yearly HIV Shot Shows 100% Effectiveness in Women

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Re: Twice-Yearly HIV Shot Shows 100% Effectiveness in Women

#11

Post by thaumasiotes »

t-writescode wrote: post #2

This is incredibly exciting! The main method available for PrEP, in the United States, at least, is a daily pill. I think (I don't know) there is a monthly shot, too. Daily pills take a lot of time investment; monthly shots are better; but once every 6 months is awesome! Especially in circumstances where it might be difficult to guarantee a daily pill or even a monthly shot.

> Daily pills take a lot of time investment; monthly shots are better

That is a matter of opinion. How much time do you think it takes to swallow a pill?

Re: Twice-Yearly HIV Shot Shows 100% Effectiveness in Women

#12

Post by Fomite »

Aardwolf wrote: post #3

> and results published Wednesday show it worked nearly as well in men. So not as well? Is there a biological reason for this? Also, is it typical to do such studies on single genders rather than on a mix of humans?

A few reasons:

- Women and girls make up the majority of HIV cases, especially in the developing world

- If you're estimating the effect in both men and women, you're reducing your power to detect an effect in either group. If you have a limited budget, it's going to be hard to recruit, etc., you may well be better off powering your study for the group you think is going to be the most impactful, then going back. We saw this with the HPV vaccine - getting it going in the highest impact groups, and then going back later

- Preventing HIV in women also prevents maternal to child transmission

- "Men with HIV" are actually two different groups - men who have sex exclusively with women, and men who have sex with men. You then also need to power your study for both sub-groups.

Re: Twice-Yearly HIV Shot Shows 100% Effectiveness in Women

#13

Post by 9x39 »

Aardwolf wrote: post #3

> and results published Wednesday show it worked nearly as well in men. So not as well? Is there a biological reason for this? Also, is it typical to do such studies on single genders rather than on a mix of humans?

HIV has heavily…gendered outcomes. Others have mentioned infection rates, there’s also sheer exposure rates to consider.

https://www.cdc.gov/hiv-data/nhss/estimated-hiv-incidence-an...

Re: Twice-Yearly HIV Shot Shows 100% Effectiveness in Women

#14

Post by Animats »

Here's a talk by someone from Gilead from a few years ago about how it works.[1] Back then they were still testing on animals.

It's amazing that a small-molecule drug can be that effective for six months. It's not a vaccine. It doesn't stimulate the immune system. Completely different mechanism. It's not a slow-release implanted thing, either.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmjn_7TeFUA

Re: Twice-Yearly HIV Shot Shows 100% Effectiveness in Women

#15

Post by t-writescode »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #11
t-writescode wrote: post #2

This is incredibly exciting! The main method available for PrEP, in the United States, at least, is a daily pill. I think (I don't know) there is a monthly shot, too. Daily pills take a lot of time investment; monthly shots are better; but once every 6 months is awesome! Especially in circumstances where it might be difficult to guarantee a daily pill or even a monthly shot.

> Daily pills take a lot of time investment; monthly shots are better That is a matter of opinion. How much time do you think it takes to swallow a pill?

You need to be in the same place, at the same time, every day, and always have them with you, continually. You also need to keep them dry and at room temperature all the time, so no leaving them in your car.

Here's another example of a pill that needs to be taken every day, at approximately the same time of day: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control/birth-...

From this article on that pill,

> But people aren’t perfect and it’s easy to forget or miss pills — so in reality the pill is about 93% effective. That means about 7 out of 100 pill users get pregnant each year.

You mess up and you have HIV for life. It's better to have something that provides more stable protection :)

Re: Twice-Yearly HIV Shot Shows 100% Effectiveness in Women

#20

Post by gadders »

t-writescode wrote: post #2

This is incredibly exciting! The main method available for PrEP, in the United States, at least, is a daily pill. I think (I don't know) there is a monthly shot, too. Daily pills take a lot of time investment; monthly shots are better; but once every 6 months is awesome! Especially in circumstances where it might be difficult to guarantee a daily pill or even a monthly shot.

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