Long-Acting Therapy for Chronic HIV viraemia (LATCH)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Implementing long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV who have chronic viraemia
IRAS ID
336631
Contact name
David Lawrence
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Despite great progress made in recent decades there are some people living with HIV who are not taking enough antiretroviral tablets to suppress the virus in their blood and become virally undetectable. This leads to weakening of the immune system which can result in serious infections, cancers, and death. A new injectable treatment has been developed which works well in people who are undetectable for several months and new research shows it may also work in those who are not undetectable. We propose a pilot study to provide intensive support to patients, helping them become undetectable on tablets and then switching to injections with the aim that they will stay undetectable. To do this we will identify patients who are not always undetectable and interview them to understand challenges in becoming undetectable and work together to develop solutions. We will also develop internal standard procedures for delivering injections. We will then provide intensive support to enable patients to become undetectable on tablets before moving to injections. Regular blood tests will show if the treatment works and is safe. At the end of the project we will interview the participants to explore their experience of the study.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EM/0122
Date of REC Opinion
12 Jun 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion