A Kenyan scientist living in the United States has presented the world's first once-a-year antiretroviral (ARV) medicine.
Prof. Benson Edagwa and his colleagues at the University of Nebraska Medical Center changed the ARV medicine cabotegravir such that it may be absorbed and released slowly from tissues over a 12-month period.
Prof Edagwa, who devised and manufactured the essential improvements to the new product, said, "This occurs for extended time periods, and in laboratory and animal testing, up to a year." Once a year, the new formulation will be administered as an injection.
Nature Materials, a major peer-reviewed biomedical research publication, published the breakthrough on Monday.
People living with HIV would no longer have to take medications on a daily basis, as is the situation now.
According to the researchers, the new pill could also work as a vaccine for healthy people who take it and engage in unprotected intimacy.
It is not however, an HIV/AIDS cure.
Prof Edagwa, a former Moi University chemistry student, and Prof Howard Gendelman, a virologist and chairman of UNMC's Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, collaborated on the novel formulation.
Edagwa, who is from Vihiga, is an assistant professor in the department, according to Kenyan.co.ke.co the novel medicine was tested onImice and non-human primates and proved to be safe and effective, according to the two scientists.
The University of Nebraska Medical School claimed in a statement that "to yet, no harmful side effects have been demonstrated in any of the animal testing models."
ARVs have been shown to suppress HIV in those who take them on a regular basis. As a result, the novel substance can be used as a vaccine for those who are HIV-negative as well as a treatment for those who are already infected.
"Human testing has not yet commenced," UNMC added, "but the development required to attain this aim is proceeding with the help of experts from the Clinton Health Access Initiative."
The institution also stated that they have began gathering prerequisites in order to acquire US FDA approval and eventually reach the market.
The development was hailed as a breakthrough by Kenyan researchers. Peter Cherutich, a leading HIV researcher, was overjoyed to hear the excellent news. He estimated that the device would take roughly five years to reach the market.
"It will have to be shown in humans that it can achieve long-term viral suppression," Dr Cherutich told the Star. "Of course, supply chains and production lines will have to be established, so we're looking at three to five years before availability."
He was the lead researcher on Kenya's recent Population-based HIV Impact Assessment survey.
Cherutich believed that the device would be well-received in Africa and that it would save money on healthcare. "Clinical visits will be decreased, allowing health providers to focus on other important services such as immunizations, and patients will have more time to pursue other economic opportunities." He claims that the supply chain would be "simpler, more predictable, and most certainly cheaper."
In the 1990s, HIV was a death sentence, but it is now a chronic condition controlled by daily medicines. With 1.5 million people living with HIV in 2019, Kenya has the world's fourth-largest HIV epidemic.
The virus is spreading most quickly among teenagers, who also report the highest rates of noncompliance with the strict daily tablet regimen. The novel solution has the potential to alleviate the problems associated with missed doses.
"This pharmaceutical invention has the ability to not only treat but also prevent viral transmission," said Gendelman, the pharmacological testing's designer. "This might very well be a therapeutic turning point."
Edagwa and Gendelman also credited a wide team of scientists from the department, including instructor Aditya Bade and graduate student Tanmay Kulkarni, for their contributions to the project.
"This is groundbreaking," said James Kamau, founder of the Kenya Treatment Access Movement. "It will eliminate the daily pill burden."
However, Kamau was concerned that a once-a-year ARV would undermine other benefits such as viral load monitoring, which is done routinely when patients pick up their ARVs.
"The question is, why would we switch to a once-a-year ARV when we haven't had one for a month?"
Nelson Otuoma, the head of Nephak, an HIV-positive people's network, praised the development as well.
"It's a good development," he told the Star, "albeit it may take some time before it's available in Kenya. ViiV Healthcare, a pharmaceutical company of GlaxoSmithKline that specializes in the development of HIV medicines, produced the cabotegravir medication, also known as CAB.
By chemically turning cabotegravir into a nanocrystal and allowing the body's enzymes to gently transform the modified drug into an active form that can be slowly released from tissue storage, Edagwa and Gendelman devised the year-long-acting treatment.
Source: Kenyans.com
