announced today.Apretude, from GlaxoSmithKline, will be available for anyone considered at-risk for HIV and weighs at least 77 pounds.
The injection is administered as two shots given one month apart, and then an injection every two months after that. Patients will be given the option of beginning the treatment in an oral form for four weeks if there is concern over how they will tolerate the injectable.
Gilead's Truvada pill was approved for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis in 2012, allowing men who have sex with men — and other groups at high risk of infection — a safe, relatively convenient way to prevent HIV.
Daily pill adherence is easier said than done though, as the FDA points out in their announcement about Apretude."PrEP requires.