Glaxo HIV Study Shows Injection More Effective Than Daily Pills

(Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s ViiV Healthcare venture said a study showed its injection given every two months was 69% more effective in preventing HIV than daily pills.

A portion of the study evaluating cabotegravir stopped early following the results, according to a statement Monday from ViiV, majority-owned by Glaxo. It involved about 4,600 participants across more than 40 sites in North and South America, Asia, and Africa.

The results boost Glaxo’s efforts to take on rival Gilead Sciences Inc. in the HIV market. If approved, a long-acting injection could play an important role in reducing HIV transmission, according to the statement. Each year, an estimated 1.7 million people are newly diagnosed with HIV.

“To lower that number, we believe more prevention options are needed,” Myron Cohen, co-principal investigator and a professor at the University of North Carolina, said in the statement.

Glaxo faced a setback last year, when it failed to win U.S. approval for a once-a-month injection that aims to free patients with HIV from daily doses of medication.

Pfizer Inc. and Shionogi & Co. are also shareholders in ViiV.

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