A long-acting injection that prevents HIV is set to be approved for use in England and Wales, offering a major breakthrough in the fight to end new transmissions.
The jab, administered every two months, provides an alternative to daily oral pills used for HIV prevention under the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) programme. In draft guidance released on Friday, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended cabotegravir (CAB-LA) for adults and young people at risk of HIV who cannot take oral PrEP. The injection is already available on the NHS in Scotland.
Health secretary Wes Streeting hailed the approval as “gamechanging,” calling it a crucial step toward the government’s goal of ending HIV transmissions in England by 2030. “For vulnerable people who are unable to take other methods of HIV prevention, this represents hope,” he said.
NICE expects the rollout to begin about three months after its final approval later this year.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, more than 111,000 people accessed PrEP in England in 2024 — a 7% rise from the previous year. NICE estimates around 1,000 people annually could benefit from the new injectable treatment.
“HIV remains a serious public health challenge, but we now have powerful tools to prevent new infections,” said Helen Knight, NICE’s director of medicines evaluation. “This injection offers an effective option for those unable to take daily oral PrEP.”
