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Gilead’s lenacapavir shows promise for multi-drug-resistant HIV

By Brian Buntz | March 9, 2021

Gilead logo

Gilead logo

Gilead Sciences presented new results from its Phase 2/3 CAPELLA study focused on its investigational, long-acting HIV-1 capsid inhibitor, lenacapavir. 

The trial, which involved heavily treatment-experienced people with multi-drug resistant HIV-1 infection, showed that lenacapavir had substantial virologic suppression for 26 weeks. 

In November, the company had announced that 88% of lenacapavir recipients in the trial had at least a 0.5 log10 reduction in HIV-1 viral load after 14 days of functional monotherapy.

“The CAPELLA trial enrolled people who were failing their regimens with a detectable viral load and had very few remaining options due to multi-drug resistance, which presents a formidable barrier to treatment,” said Dr. Diana Brainard, senior vice president, virology therapeutic area at Gilead Sciences in a statement. “These interim results from the CAPELLA trial demonstrate lenacapavir’s potential to be a foundational, long-acting agent of future HIV treatment regimens.”

Roche’s Fuzeon (enfuvirtide) was the first subcutaneous drug to win FDA approval for treating HIV-infected patients. It must be administered multiple times daily, in contrast to lenacapavir. 

Injectable drugs remain one of the quickest growing segments among HIV therapies. 


Filed Under: clinical trials, Drug Discovery, Infectious Disease
Tagged With: AIDS, CAPELLA, Gilead Sciences, HIV, lenacapavir
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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