To make Cabenuva the standard treatment option for HIV, Johnson & Johnson and GSK-owned ViiV Healthcare must first dethrone Gilead Sciences’ once-daily stalwart Biktarvy. Now, the partners have a clutch of data suggesting their long-acting injectable is popular among patients.
Fresh results from the phase 3b switching study Solar found that a whopping 90% of patients who responded to a ViiV questionnaire said they preferred Cabenuva over Biktarvy, with 85% of those patients crediting their preference to not having to worry about taking their daily medication.
Unlike the daily tablet Biktarvy, which combines bictegravir, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide, Cabenuva (cabotegravir/rilpivirine) is given as an injection and dosed monthly or every two months.
The Solar study followed patients who switched from Biktarvy to Cabenuva over the span of a year. Specifically, 447 patients converted to ViiV and J&J’s therapy, while another 223 stuck with Gilead’s drug. Investigators presented the results Monday at the International AIDS Society conference in Brisbane, Australia.
At the start of the trial, 47% of Biktarvy patients reported challenges remembering to take their treatment every day. They also cited negative effects of a daily reminder of their HIV status.
Aside from the convenience edge reported in Solar, patients on Cabenuva also voiced satisfaction with the drug’s treatment flexibility and signaled a willingness to continue with ViiV and J&J’s medicine after the 12-month trial span.
Further, the Cabenuva patients became more comfortable with injections during the trial run, J&J and ViiV said. And 59% of those on Cabenuva said they preferred the injections because they did not have to worry about others seeing their pills.
Monday’s presentation marked Cabenuva’s second win in Solar this year. Back in February, ViiV and J&J presented head-to-head data showing Cabenuva demonstrated antiviral efficacy on par with Biktarvy after one year of treatment in patients who had been virally suppressed on the Gilead drug.
After an FDA approval in 2021, Cabenuva started to come into its own last year. In 2022, the drug brought home 340 million pounds, a significant increase over the 38 million pounds it pulled down the prior year.
When GSK reported those results, the company noted that 60% of patients on Cabenuva were switching from drugs sold by competitors, while another 40% were transitioning from a ViiV offering.