Lenacapavir, a New Drug for HIV
Lenacapavir and Gene Editing are some of the treatments being employed by medical practitioners to treat HIV effectively.
In this episode, we will explore two kinds of treatment for HIV namely, Lenacapavir and Gene Editing. Let’s dive straight in.
After receiving FDA approval in 2022, Lenacapvir became the second medicine to be used for HIV treatment. The second injectable medicine falls under a new class of drugs which is known as capsid inhibitors. Capsid inhibitors directly affect the shell responsible for protecting the virus. Furthermore, they also prevent the virus from multiplying.
According to an article published on Web MD, using Lenacapavir could result in patients visiting a medical practitioner to twice a year. While the new drug has an array of benefits, it is advised that only such patients use the drug who have “become resistant to other drugs.”
Islatravir is another HIV drug that is close to getting FDA approval. The Web MD article reads:
“A drug that is close to getting FDA approval is latravir. This type of drug is called an NRTTI (nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor). Still, in clinical trials, the weekly pill blocks a protein that helps the virus multiply. As a result, HIV levels in the body drop. It seems to work against some drug-resistant strains of HIV, too.”
Gene editing is another type of treatment for HIV. An organism’s gene structure is changed, which could assist in the treatment of HIV. The effectiveness of gene editing is currently being studied in a number of genetic diseases such as hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell disease.
The Web MD article reads:
“Early experiments on animals suggest that a type of gene editing called CRISPR may disable a virus similar to HIV called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), found in animals such as monkeys. Very early human clinical trials began at the end of 2021. In the trials, researchers use CRISPR technology to cut out the HIV that wraps around the DNA in cells and makes it so difficult to treat.”
While a number of treatments are under clinical trials, researchers still await a revolutionary development in the treatment of HIV. Unlike cancer, where researchers have discovered new ways of treating the disease, such as immunotherapy, HIV research has a lot to catch up with.
It is advisable for patients who have become immune to treatment to enroll in a clinical trial.
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