Around 78% of people who are living with HIV take a daily pill to manage their infection. These drugs work by preventing the HIV virus from multiplying.

Although these drugs are very effective, some people struggle to stick with the daily regimen. There are many reasons for this – including pill fatigue, stigma and accidentally missing a dose.

But our recent research has shown that a once-weekly pill is as effective as daily pills in treating HIV.

The global study included 607 participants with well-controlled HIV from 11 countries. The trial was designed to reduce bias and was a double-blind placebo-controlled study. This means that the participants did not know if they were taking the weekly oral pill or daily pills.

The study found that the weekly oral pill worked for 93% of participants, while the daily pill was 92% effective. Importantly, nobody developed resistance to either of the medications.

It’s impressive that the once-weekly pill worked as well as the daily pill, as the daily treatment we used in our study is recommended as one of the best HIV treatments currently available.

Side-effects were comparable between the two drugs. The most common side-effects for both the........

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