Design and Testing of a Cabotegravir Implant for HIV Prevention.

ABSTRACT: Long-acting antiretroviral implants could help protect high-risk individuals from HIV infection. We describe the design and testing of a long-acting reservoir subcutaneous implant capable of releasing cabotegravir for several months. We compressed cabotegravir and excipients into cylindrical pellets and heat-sealed them in tubing composed of hydrophilic poly(ether-urethane) -. The implants have a 47 mm lumen length, 3.6 mm outer diameter, and 200 μm wall thickness. Four cabotegravir pellets were sealed in the membrane, with a total drug loading of 274 ± 3 mg. In vivo, the implants released 348 ± 107 μg/day (median value per implant, N = 41) of cabotegravir in rhesus macaques. Five implants generated an average cabotegravir plasma concentration of 373 ng/ml in rhesus macaques. The non-human

SUBMITTER: Karunakaran D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7906957 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature