‘Mini pill box’ that stays in stomach for a week could vastly slow HIV infection
US scientists say they have found a way to prevent between 200‚000 and 800‚000 new HIV infections in SA over the next 20 years.A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a "mini pill box" that stays in the stomach for a week‚ delivering a long-lasting dose of antiretroviral medication.By simulating the dynamics of HIV and patient drug-adherence patterns in SA‚ the MIT team — which published its research in the journal Nature Communications — showed that the invention could reduce therapeutic failures and prevent thousands of new HIV cases."These slow-release dosage systems perform equal or better than the current daily doses for HIV treatment in preclinical models‚" said MIT gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer Giovanni Traverso.Nonadherence to medication regimens is a major challenge in the fight against HIV‚ and clinical trials have shown that only 30% of patients stick to their dosages.Traverso’s team developed a capsule that unfolds its six arm...
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