Have you thought about long-acting injectable medication, either for HIV treatment or for PrEP? What are your questions or thoughts?
“I am a nurse and have a few patients on Cabenuva, and I wonder if market-based insurance is covering more Cabenuva? I have yet to have a convo with my own doc about it.”
—Joseph Edward
“I think injectables are great for some people and I am glad that that option is available to those who want it. I take 16 pills a day and only one of those is for my HIV. So, eliminating one pill a day out of my usual regimen and having to go to the doctor’s office every three or four months instead of twice a year like I do now doesn’t really make me want to switch to an injectable. This is just my opinion.”
—Randy Bowling
“I don’t find it difficult to adhere to one pill per day that is currently very easy to get, so there’s little attraction here but under other circumstances, maybe.”
—Lillian Thiemann
“I discussed this with an infectious disease doc in August amid blippy viral load (44, 48, 28, likely due to inability to digest lactose-based Odefsey tablets fully), and he erroneously indicated one’s viral load must be below 20—ViiV says under 50! Still, after thinking through the need to try oral cabotegravir first [no longer required] and that I take other pills daily anyway, the novelty has worn off. Further, the ViiV ad with the line implying a need to hide one’s meds when having people over rubs me the wrong way in reinforcing self-stigmatization.”
—DavidMichael Phillips
“I’m on Trogarzo infusion therapy that works for me.”
—Alberto Perez Bermudez
“People I know who are on Cabenuva like it, but they admit that the shots can be uncomfortable, if not painful for some. I myself don’t want to do it because I don’t want painful shots. I am okay with taking a tablet every day. I miss a dose once in a blue moon.”
—Tom Hunter
“At 57, I take multiple one pill per day medications to manage other health issues. Do not wish to spend more time in the doctor’s office than I currently do.”
—Xio Mora-Lopez
“Maybe pain, labs and visits every six months might be worth it. I am hoping that implants are next.”
—Andrew Espinosa
“I’m on Sunlenca, but still need to take oral meds with it.”
—Tim Hoeffgen
“I already do an injectable for high cholesterol every 14 days. I think getting such for HIV would be great. I would hope the benefits would outweigh any negatives that might be associated with the injection. As a now 34-year survivor of HIV, and dealing with ESRD [end-stage renal disease] and dialysis, anything that makes life easier is a plus.”
—Harold Scott
“Wow! We hope that this will be available in South East Asia soon.”
—@StephXChristiG
“I’m an HIV long-term survivor from the ’80s and have been involved in HIV research all my adult life... For people dealing with polypharmacy, it’s so much easier to think about HIV treatment just six times a year. Medication adherence used to be a daily burden for them, as well as worrying about how to get refills every month. Now, not having to think about HIV every single day is almost miraculous! All medications can have serious side effects that your doctor should be checking for; one side effect most people complain about with HIV LAIs is soreness at the injection site for a few days. That’s not that hard to deal with in the context of a couple of days, six times a year, with better results, if you ask me.”
—Fernando De Hoyos
“I’ve been on Cabenuva for 15 months and love it. I still take daily medication for other conditions, but I don’t have that anti-HIV pill staring me in the face. It’s kind of changed my outlook on some things. In June, at a conference, I realized that for the first time in 28 years, I had gone a day and a half without thinking about me being HIV-positive.”
—Eric Moore
“Very interested, but how do the costs compare with pills?”
—Ben Cole
“I’d definitely love to have injections so that I won’t have to think about missing a single dose. “I want to get on one so bad. After I moved from Illinois, they made it available there through ADAP but Colorado doesn’t have it as an option yet. For people like me with ADHD, I often forget my daily pill, so it’d be extremely freeing to have one less thing to worry about.”
—@SledDogMars
“As a long-term survivor living with AIDS and having been heavily pretreated with other highly active antiretrovirals, I am out of the running of any of these medications.”
—Rob Toth
“I have considered it and actually talked with my provider about getting started!”
—Marissa Gon