HIV Health Services Center's new Cabenuva Program Saves Lives

 

Dr. Paul DenOuden, HIV Health Services Center site manager, says new Cabenuva program saves lives
Photo caption: HIV Health Services Center Site Manager Dr. Paul DenOuden 

New Frontier in HIV Treatment: HIV Health Services Center’s Cabenuva Program Saves Lives

PORTLAND, OR – Multnomah County’s HIV Health Services Center, the largest HIV safety net clinic in Oregon, is marking a significant advance in HIV care, moving past the challenges of daily pill regimens with the implementation of a new, long-acting injectable treatment, Cabenuva. The center recently started its 100th patient on this injection treatment, underscoring a major team effort that has profoundly impacted patient lives.

For many of the center's diverse patient population, adherence to daily, long-term oral pill regimens—critical for HIV suppression and preventing resistance—remains a major obstacle. The arrival of Cabenuva, the first all-injectable option that requires a shot only every other month, has provided a transformative solution.

“The Health Center’s HIV clinic serves a wide variety of patients with varied challenging needs,” explains HSC Site Medical Director Dr. Paul DenOuden. “For the first time ever in the history of HIV treatment, an all-injectable option became approved and available, which has allowed us to effectively treat patients in the clinic and allow them to not have to adhere to a daily long term pill regimen.”

The program in December passed a new milestone with over 100 patients started on this novel treatment. The most profound impact, according to Dr. DenOuden, has been for those with advanced AIDS.

“The most exciting impact has been seeing the many patients we had with advanced AIDS, ill with opportunistic infections, be able to finally get and stay on an HIV regimen that works for them,” he noted. “We’ve seen these ill patients get virologically suppressed, raise their T-cell counts, and physically return to good health, some from close to death. Without a doubt this effort has saved the lives of a significant subset of our patients.”

The success is attributed to an intensive, multidisciplinary team effort. A Cabenuva internal workgroup was formed, bringing together all relevant roles to create an optimal plan and protocol. This includes:

  • Eligibility Specialists dealing with insurance coverage issues.
  • A Clinical Pharmacist reviewing every chart to ensure the regimen is appropriate.
  • Providers counseling and guiding appropriate patients to the treatment.
  • Nursing and MA Staff for administering the many injections and rigorously tracking appointments to prevent missed doses.

The results are promising, with the clinic closely monitoring patients for long-term success. “We’ve followed the patients closely long term to make sure they stay undetectable, and our failure rate has been very, very low—less than a few percent of patients who failed or got resistant to this option,” Dr. DenOuden said.

Dr. DenOuden views this work as a major new frontier in the 40-plus years of the AIDS pandemic, demonstrating that therapeutic improvements are ongoing. “We are excited about the future, with the potential of even more advances, including 6-month long-acting injectable treatments that could one day mean patients could stay well-treated and undetectable with only two shots a year at some point in the future hopefully.”