A pharmacist holds a bottle of lenacapavir, the new injectable drug for HIV prevention.
Nardus Engelbrecht | AP
GileadPfizer's twice-yearly shot reduced HIV infections by 96% in a second large-scale study, the company said Thursday.
Positive data from the phase three trial of Lenacapavir set the stage for possible approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for HIV prevention.
“Now that we have a comprehensive dataset from multiple study populations, Gilead will urgently work with regulatory, government, public health and community partners to ensure that, if approved, we can deliver lenacapavir twice-yearly for PrEP around the world, for all those who want or need PrEP,” Gilead CEO Daniel O'Day said in a statement.
PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medication taken to prevent the spread of HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gilead shares rose about 3% in premarket trading Thursday.
The company said 99.9% of participants who received Lenacapavir did not contract HIV, with two cases among 2,180 people. The trial included cisgender men, transgender men, transgender women and gender non-binary people who have sex with partners who were assigned male at birth.
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