An implantable device is compared with a matchstick for the size difference. (Photo : YouTube/Mark Dice )
Finding the cure for HIV/AIDS is just one part of the fight against the dreaded disease, for the prevention aspect of the combat is also a crucial ingredient for success. Prevention of the infection is equally essential as reflected by its latest technology and recent additional fundings.
This particular view of the HIV/AIDS campaign is somehow being shared by Bill Gates and his wife as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested roughly $140 million to boost prevention of HIV transmission. The said amount will support the development of a small implantable drug pump that could greatly affect HIV prevention and is currently being developed by Intarcia Therapeutics Inc.
The implantable pump is considerably a good alternative to pills. This implantable means can supply medication by delivering micro doses continuously to patients once implanted. It can hold six or 12 months of supply; thus, ensuring continuous and uninterrupted preventive medication.
"Its real-world effectiveness is much lower than that because you have to take a pill every day and getting healthy people to do so is difficult," The Wall Street Journal quoted Dr. Emilio Emini of Gates Foundation as saying. "You put it in and you forget it, likening it to long-acting forms of contraception. You can immediately imagine how it could be applicable."
While definite HIV and AIDS cure remain elusive up to now, the use of implantable pump could fit in and boost the prevention strategy called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. This particular technology will ensure consistency and may likely decrease HIV transmission worldwide, including the highly affected sub-Saharan Africa.
"PrEP can stop HIV from taking hold and spreading throughout your body," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement obtained by Quartz. "It is highly effective for preventing HIV if used as prescribed, but it is much less effective when not taken consistently."
Watch here below an overview of PrEP:
