Hosted by the GPH Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR)
HIV treatment is changing with the advent of long-acting antiretroviral therapy (ART), with long-acting cabotegravir and rilpivirine approved as a combination regimen in 2021. However, the clinical trials of long-acting CAB/RPV only studied the combination in participants who were virologically suppressed on oral ART. The Ward 86 HIV Clinic in San Francisco serves a publicly-insured population with high rates of substance use, marginal housing, and mental illness; we provided long-acting ART to our patients, even with ongoing viremia off oral ART, the program demonstrated good outcomes.
Join Monica Gandhi MD, MPH and Katerina Christopoulos, MD, MPH for a presentation reviewing clinical outcomes and implementation strategies for the program. Long-acting ART may be a game changer for vulnerable populations, such as substance users, and needs greater exploration in adherence-challenged patients.
About the Speakers:
Monica Gandhi MD, MPH is a Professor of Medicine and Associate Chief in the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is also the Director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the Medical Director of the HIV Clinic ("Ward 86") at San Francisco General Hospital. She serves as the Associate Program Director of the ID fellowship at UCSF. Her research focuses on HIV treatment and prevention optimization, HIV and women, adherence measurement in HIV and TB, adherence interventions, and the interplay between COVID-19 and HIV. She served as the Co-Chair of the International AIDS Conference in San Francisco/Oakland in 2020 and has recently worked on COVID-19 mitigation and vaccination strategies, with a book on the COVID-19 pandemic (called “Endemic: A Post Pandemic Playbook”) coming out from Mayo Clinic Press in 2023.
Katerina Christopoulos, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of HIV, ID, and Global Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital, UCSF, and co-director of the clinical core of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research. She is a standing member of the NIH Population and Public Health Approaches to HIV study section. Her research program focuses on improving engagement in care and treatment for urban underserved people living with HIV. Her current R01 funded work includes studies evaluating the implementation of long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy in three clinics in the U.S. and scaling up low-barrier drop in and mobile care for those experiencing homelessness, substance use, and mental illness.