WHO Recommends Twice-Yearly Injection for HIV Prevention

The World Health Organization on 14 July 2025 issued new guidelines recommending twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir as an additional pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) option for HIV prevention. The announcement was made at the 13th International AIDS Society Conference (IAS 2025) in Kigali, Rwanda, and adds a long-acting choice for people who struggle with daily pills.

Lenacapavir is a long-acting antiretroviral given as just two injections per year. In the large PURPOSE 1 and PURPOSE 2 trials, the overwhelming majority of participants who received the drug remained HIV-negative, with researchers reporting that it prevented almost all infections among those at risk. "While an HIV vaccine remains elusive, lenacapavir is the next best thing," said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, calling it a long-acting antiretroviral shown in trials to prevent nearly all HIV infections among people at risk.

“The announcement was made at the 13th International AIDS Society Conference (IAS 2025) in Kigali, Rwanda, and adds a long-acting choice for people who struggle with daily pills.”

The appeal of a twice-yearly shot lies in adherence. Daily oral PrEP is highly effective, but many people find it hard to take a pill every day, face stigma at pharmacies or struggle with frequent clinic visits. A discreet injection given only twice a year could reach populations that existing options have missed, including young women and marginalized groups who bear a heavy share of new infections.

Important caveats temper the optimism. A WHO recommendation is a crucial step, but real-world impact depends on price, manufacturing capacity and getting the product to the countries with the greatest need — challenges sharpened by uncertainty over global HIV funding. Generic-access agreements and scale-up plans were still being negotiated as the guidance was released. Lenacapavir is a prevention tool, not a cure, and it must be paired with testing and broader services. Even so, public-health experts described the long-acting injectable as one of the most promising advances in HIV prevention in years.