UK’s drug-cost watchdog recommends use of GSK unit’s HIV prevention drug

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(Reuters) -The UK’s drugs cost-effectiveness watchdog has given a positive recommendation for ViiV Healthcare’s HIV drug, enabling access to the preventive medicine via the state health system in England and Wales, the GSK unit said on Friday.

The country’s drug regulator had approved ViiV’s injection, Apretude, last year for prevention of HIV-1 in adults and young people who weigh at least 35 kilograms and are at high risk of acquiring the infection.

A positive recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE, solidifies the final guidance related to Apretude for National Health Service, ViiV said.

It also allows the drug to be routinely funded and enables access through NHS. Pending any appeals, the drug will be available to eligible people in Wales within two months and in England within three months.

Such preventative treatments, medically called pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, are used to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV.

Apretude provides an alternative for people who cannot, or prefer not to, take oral HIV-prevention medication. It won U.S. approval in late 2021 and in Europe in 2023, and generated 279 million pounds ($374.95 million) in global sales last year.

The drug competes with U.S. drugmaker Gilead’s oral daily pills Truvada and Descovy along with long-acting injectable drug Yeztugo.

ViiV’s drug can be given every two months, compared with Gilead’s Yeztugo, which is given every six months. GSK is exploring a long acting version of Apretude that could potentially be dosed every four months or more.

($1 = 0.7441 pounds)

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)