ViiV Healthcare, a healthcare company founded by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and GSK (NYSE:GSK), announced on Wednesday that its long-acting HIV PrEP therapy cabotegravir was found to be more acceptable to patients compared to Gilead Sciences’ (NASDAQ:GILD) rival drug lenacapavir in a Phase 1 trial.
Based on initial data from its CLARITY open-label study, ViiV, whose shareholders include Shionogi (OTCPK:SGIOF) (OTCPK:SGIOY), said that more than two-thirds of trial participants had found its cabotegravir long-acting injections were “totally or very acceptable” in terms of injection site reactions.
Regarding the study’s primary goal of assessing local reaction acceptability after seven days of injections, ViiV noted clinically relevant differences in injection site reactions.
Meanwhile, 69% and 48% of HIV-negative adults who received a single dose of cabotegravir and lenacapavir found that the injections were “totally or very acceptable,” respectively. The results were statistically significant in a post hoc analysis, the company added.
The trial of 63 adults also indicated that 90% of subjects and 86% of healthcare providers preferred cabotegravir injections over those of lenacapavir, ViiV said, adding that the results could help determine which drugs to use when initiating long-acting HIV injections.