Long-Acting HIV Therapies Improve Adherence and Access Options: Kelsea Aragon, PharmD

With HIV still presenting a major public health concern, therapeutic advances and adherence optimization were pivotal to the discussion at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy annual meeting, held this week in Nashville, Tennessee.

In an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^®, panelist Kelsea Aragon, PharmD, an associate professor of pharmacy practice at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy, underscored the importance of advanced therapies for patient adherence, particularly when comparing oral therapies with long-acting injectables.

During the conversation, she highlighted substantial hurdles for patients prescribed oral therapies, many of which can interrupt consistent access. Factors can include patient preferences, struggling with medication instructions, or the fact that taking pills every day isn’t always compatible with a patient’s lifestyle.

“The long-acting injectables just give more flexibility and more options for patients, to prevent HIV, which I think is our biggest priority as clinicians,” Aragon said. “It really is about what fits best for the patient. It just gives us a lot more options in a space where we are so grateful to have any at all.”

She gave the examples of injectable agents lenacapavir, which can be taken every 6 months, and cabotegravir, taken every 2 months.

“It takes the mental burden of prevention off of the patients’ minds,“ she said.

Aragon also addressed the disparities associated with accessing preventive HIV medications used as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). She emphasized why it’s important for managed care organizations to consider stigma associated with the need for prevention and how those conversations can be difficult for lots of patients who already struggle to access any form of care.

“I think if we reimbursed and covered those cognitive services and delivery of long-acting injectables at community-based pharmacies, that could really expand and help improve access and hopefully close some of those health disparities and make them a little bit more narrow,” she said.