New implant, vaccine trial offer fresh HIV hope

A matchstick-sized implant could revolutionise HIV prevention regimes after early trials suggested the device could stop at-risk people contracting the virus for up to a year at a time, new research showed on Tuesday.
Unveiling their findings from a clinical trial at the 10th annual International AIDS Society conference in Mexico City, developers said the device could eventually offer a novel approach to HIV suppression.
It uses a molecule called MK-8591, which is roughly 10 times stronger as an HIV inhibitor than medicines currently on the market, and which has a very high barrier against resistance.
“It slowly releases the drug and maintains a very consistent level of the drug in your body and taking this prophylactically it can actually prevent you from getting infected,” Mike Robertson, director global clinical development for virology at MSD research, told AFP.
Currently, individuals at high risk of contracting HIV have to take a pill every day in order to guarantee their protection. (AFP)