The NHS can start providing injectable treatment for people living with HIV.
If you are interested in having injectable HIV medication please don’t ring the clinic to request it now. You can discuss it with your HIV doctor, nurse or pharmacist at your next routine appointment.
In the meantime here is some useful information about it:
What is injectable HIV treatment?
Injectable HIV treatment consists of 2 different HIV medications; cabotegravir and rilpivirine. Both of these can be given by injections that have been designed so the medication stays in your body for 2 months after each dose.
Can I have injectable HIV treatment?
Injectable HIV treatment is not suitable for everyone. You might not be able to have it if:
– You have any resistance (known or suspected) to either of the 2 medications
– You do not have an undetectable viral load
– You are taking certain other treatments e.g. some antiepileptic or anti-TB medication or St John’s Wort
– You are pregnant
– You have Hepatitis B infection or you are not Hepatits B immune and are at risk of acquiring this infection
– You aren’t able to attend clinic every 2 months
What does injectable HIV treatment involve?
If injectable HIV treatment is approved for you this is what will happen:
– First of all you will have to switch your current pills to cabotegravir and rilpivirine tablets and take one of each (2 pills in total) every day, with food, for a month. This is to make sure you don’t have any serious side effects to either of the medications.
– After a month of taking the tablets you will come into clinic to get your first injections.
– Each time you come to clinic for the injections you will get 1 injection into the muscle of each buttock (2 injections in total).
– You should expect to spend 30-60 minutes in clinic each time you come for your injections.
– One month after your first injections you will have to come back to clinic for your second injections. This is the end of the “initiation injection” phase.
– After the initiation injections are complete you will have to attend clinic every 2 months for further injections. These are called the continuation injections.
What happens if I miss an injection?
– It is very important to attend for your injections on time or there is a risk that your viral load may go up and you could develop resistance to the injectable medication.
– If you miss, or are late for, an injection you may have to come to clinic for an extra dose before going back to the 2 monthly continuation injections.
– If this keeps happening, because of the risk of resistance, we may decide injections are not right for you and have to put you back on to oral medication.
Are there warnings with injectable HIV medication?
– Like all HIV medication, injectable HIV treatments may cause side effects in some people. These will be discussed with you before starting treatment.
– After 3 years of clinical trials of the 2 monthly injections about 1 in 40 people developed a detectable viral load even though they had all their injections on time. Most of these patients developed resistance to one or both of the medications so had to stop the injections.