Pharmaceutical companies Janssen Biopharma and Viiv Healthcare has applied to have a new injectable treatment for HIV to be approved by the USA’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The new treatment, which has already progressed through several human trials, would see a daily pill taking reginem replaced by a monthly injections of two medications.

The application for long-acting injectable formulation of rilpivirine + cabotegravir is based on data from two multi-centre open label group trials – FLAIR and ATLAS. The studies found that a monthly intramuscular injection was not inferior to the current daily does of three medications.

Brian Woodfall who is the Managing Director, Global Head, Development, Infectious Diseases at Janssen Biopharma, said the new medication would give more treatment options to people living with HIV.

“We believe this once-monthly injectable regimen has the potential to offer many people living with HIV a treatment option that does not require taking pills every day.”

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