A recent study found that women had varying levels of willingness to use long-acting injectable HIV medications, based on their history with intravenous drug use.

Women who have different histories with injectable medications had different views on their level of comfort with long-acting injectable (LAI) HIV medications, according to a recent study published in AIDS Patient Care and STDs.

The researchers said that differences of opinion, especially for patients with a history of illegal drug use, highlight that physicians should take into account patient history with injection drug use prior to making a decision on prescribing an LAI or an oral medication for preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Daily administration of oral PrEP and ART can present barriers to adherence to HIV medicines, especially for female patients, on individual, clinical, and sociostructual levels. Women make up 5% of PrEP users in the United States and discontinue treatment quicker than their male counterparts. In addition, only 60% of women living with HIV (WLWH) who take daily oral treatments are suppressed at 12 months, suggesting they are in need of alternatives. READ MORE