Long-Acting Antiretroviral Drug Therapy in Adolescents: Current Status and Future Prospects.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-9-2023

Publication Title

Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society

Abstract

Approximately 50% of HIV-infected adolescents fail to achieve complete viral suppression, largely due to nonadherence to their antiretroviral drug regimens. Numerous personal, financial, and societal barriers contribute to nonadherence, which may lead to the development of HIV drug resistance. Long-acting antiretroviral drugs hold the promise of improved adherence because they remove the need for swallowing one or more pills daily. Cabotegravir (an integrase strand transfer inhibitor) and rilpivirine (a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor) can now be intramuscularly co-administered to HIV-infected adolescents every 4-8 weeks if they are virologically suppressed and without resistance mutations to cabotegravir or rilpivirine. Adverse effects are few and non-severe. Widespread use of this complete antiretroviral therapy may be limited by drug costs, need for sites and skilled personnel who can administer the injections, and ethical challenges. Other long-acting medications and new antiretroviral therapy delivery systems are under active investigation and show great promise.

Volume

12

Issue

1

First Page

43

Last Page

48

DOI

10.1093/jpids/piac134

ISSN

2048-7207

PubMed ID

36525377

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