Gilead reports new data from Descovy Discover trial

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) announces findings from the DISCOVER trial evaluating Descovy (emtricitabine 200 mg and tenofovir alafenamide 25 mg tablets; F/TAF) for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), showing significant improvements in key measures of bone and renal safety parameters in a subset of study participants who switched from Truvada (emtricitabine 200 mg and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg tablets; F/TDF) for PrEP to Descovy for PrEP.

The data will be presented at the IDWeek 2019 conference being held in Washington, D.C. from October 2-6. Two sub-analyses of data will be presented.

The first 48-week study reports statistically significant improvements in key prespecified laboratory measures of kidney function. Improvements were statistically significant as early as Week 4 of the trial.

A second presentation reports 48-week data on bone mineral density (BMD). Of these individuals (n=383), 53 participants were on baseline F/TDF PrEP at enrollment, 26 of whom were randomized to F/TAF.

Participants who switched to F/TAF experienced statistically significant improvements in BMD of the hip and spine compared with those randomized to continue F/TDF.

In addition, participants taking F/TAF for PrEP were significantly less likely to develop osteopenia of the spine.

A new analysis demonstrates the significant impact of PrEP for reducing new HIV diagnoses. Importantly, this effect was independent of the impact of treatment as prevention.

Projecting out five years, the analysis suggests that if PrEP utilization among individuals at high risk of HIV could reach 50% by 2022 in the MSAs analyzed, a 40.7% decline in the rate of new HIV diagnoses is possible.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3503983-gilead-reports-new-data-discover-trial