POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: puppyluv on April 09, 2021, 10:35:55 am
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Hi everyone,
Today I am officially 6 months undetectable and my doctor had exciting news for me. She offered switching from my Biktarvy which has worked very well for me to the new Cabenuva injectable by Viiv. I am 23 years old and love the idea of not having to take a pill everyday, but I’m nervous as it is so new. Does anyone have any opinions on this? Any experiences or thoughts? Let me know because I love the idea of only thinking about this once a month.
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Hi, I will try to keep my thoughts brief and acknowledge that there is lots of literature on this topic out there. My comments only refer to using 2-drug treatment regimes as maintenance treatment in patients who have accomplished becoming UD for at least 6 months.
https://www.poz.com/drug/cabenuva
First, Cabenuva is a 2-drug combo whereas biktarvy is a 3-drug combo medication. The idea behind the development of effective 2-drug regimes is that because we will have to take medication life-long to maintain virus suppression, taking fewer drugs over time will help avoiding, or at least delaying any potential side effects that may be linked to long-term exposure to HIV medicines. The use of 2-drug versus 3-drug combos is a topic of intense scientific discussions and I believe that the current thinking is that modern 2-drug combos are as safe and efficacious as the traditional 3-drug combos for most patients with HIV.
https://www.hiv.uw.edu/go/antiretroviral-therapy/switching-antiretroviral-therapy/core-concept/all
Second, the data for Cabenuva look really good regarding virus suppression, side effects and the possibility of treatment failures. To the best of my knowledge, Cabenuva is currently FDA-approved for monthly injections and in the near future there will become the option available to have the injection only every other month. The science supports both approaches.
https://www.poz.com/article/cabenuva-every-month-maintains-viral-suppression-two-years#lid=d5ab18bd98.a1a2b2ced3
Final thought: there are many good reasons to switch a treatment regime, mostly when it either doesn’t work or is associated with side effects. Otherwise, it’s my opinion you may want to think twice before switching a regime that works for you. I myself use Dovato, a2-drug combo and I have been using it since that drug became available. I chose it for the reasons described above and I believe in 2-drug treatments. For me, taking a pill every day is not a big deal. That’s why I’m currently not thinking about switching treatment. But if the convenience of getting an injection monthly and most likely in the near future only every other month improves your life, changing your current treatment to this new treatment is certainly worth thinking about.
Hope the above is useful, best Matt