Health Canada approves preventable HIV injectable medication

A new vaccine has been approved in the fight against HIV, and it's being billed as the first injectable preventative HIV medication in Canada. So to explain how this works, we are joined now by Jean Francois Fortin, the Canadian medical director for VEEV Healthcare. Thank you so much for joining today. I'm very happy to be with you this morning. Let's talk a little bit about the numbers in the latest data. Canada saw nearly 25% jump in HIV infections between the years 2021 and 2022. So indeed a lot still needs to be addressed at the moment. Before the approval from Health Canada to to prevent the spread of HIV, there was a daily pill. Your medication here that you're Speaking of is completely different. Can you explain how this works? Yes, happily. Now first I would like, if you don't, if you don't mind, I think in your introduction you mentioned a new vaccine. I just want to clarify that you know this is not a A vaccine. This is really a a medication that is used to prevent HIV, but not in the form of a of a vaccine. Now others that work, it's what you call the long acting medication. So for patients for which the medication is appropriate, they would receive an injection in their buttocks muscles every two months and that's it. So as low as 6 * a year to get, you know, an excellent level of protection. This literally just days ago, Health Canada approving this, I assume there were a number of trials. Can you talk about the process in order for this to get approved through Health Canada? Yes, so there was a number of trials and actually you know that the process of drug development, you know goes over many years if not decades. In the case of that specific drug after what you call preclinical development, we started the major clinical trials. There were two of them that started in 2016 and 2017 involving over for the two trials combined together over 7000 patients. So we're talking about you know huge clinical trials and those were you know completed or the first phase of the trial was was completed around the end of 2020. Can you talk a little bit about cost because that will be a a big question for many people. If they are uninsured, how does that model work and do subsidies, do they exist? Yeah, so you know As for cost, you know what I can see that we we believe in responsible and you know, fair pricing that is you know aligned with you know the the Canadian regulations, OK. At the moment there's no no cost breakdown necessarily or is there any tier level at all. Can you can you speak to that at all now so we're we're just entering the the discussions with the you know the the provincial or we can enter soon discussion with provincial and territorial health authorities. So we we have to run, you know, to this regular process before we can speak about tearing or you know other ways of, you know, providing funding for the medication. Understandable. It's still very much in its its infancy. So let's talk a little bit about the virus itself from from a number of advocates that we've spoken to in the community, many saying, you know, this is perhaps the last stretch of very much a long marathon to eradicate the virus. So let's talk about some other support that is needed to make that happen outside of of course these this preventative medication. What are you seeing? What can you speak to? Yes. So there's a a continuum in in what we we can do in in terms of preventing or stopping the epidemics, right. And I think that the two, the two key elements are prevention and treatment. Canada as a as a country we have you know a good system in place. There is a good access to treatment medication and in in the prevention space there's already as as you mentioned earlier some oral medication that you take daily that can help prevention. But I I think it's important to bring another option. What what will help is really to provide choice for people so that they can have if appropriate of course after discussion with with their, their physician to have you know a medication that's appropriate for them. That's really I think that the from the medication side and then there's also all the the awareness, right you you mentioned earlier there's still high number of cases of HIV transmission in Canada, but unfortunately HIV is no longer a subject that's at the the forefront. So I want to thank you for, you know, bringing that to the awareness of of the public that there's still a lot of work to be done to combat this epidemic. We thank you so much for your time and indeed we'll be hearing from you in the coming days, weeks, months when it comes to the rollout. Appreciate you speaking with us today. Jean Francois Fortin with V Canada. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Bye, bye.