Project Engage: Oral PrEP Acceptability

Adherence, Medication Clinical Trial

Official title:

A Phase II Acceptability Study of Oral Emtricitabine/Tenofovir Alafenamide (F/TAF) vs Emtricitabine/Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (F/TDF) for the Prevention of HIV Acquisition in Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW)

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05458765
• Other study ID #: CONRAD B20-151
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: Phase 2
• Start date: June 21, 2022
• Est. completion date: April 2024

Study information

• Verified date: August 2023
• Source: Eastern Virginia Medical School
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study is a two-arm open label acceptability study that will examine acceptability of, and adherence to, once daily dosing regimen of F/TDF (Truvada) and an investigational once daily dosing regimen of F/TAF (Descovy) under standard of care counselling. The study will recruit approximately 330 healthy, HIV negative, AGYW in up to three sites in Africa. Eligible participants will be randomized 1:1 to receive F/TAF 200 mg/25 mg or F/TDF 200 mg/300 mg for once daily oral administration for 24 weeks.

Study visits will take place according to standard of care at month 1, month 3 and month 6. Acceptability and adherence will be assessed by questionnaires and DBS at months 3 and 6; questionnaires will assess acceptability of product attributes; perceived pill side effects; ease of pill-taking and reasons for missed pills, and future interest in PrEP use beyond the trial context. Exit interviews at the final visit and additional qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with a subset of participants as well as other key stakeholders will further inform potential differences in acceptability and adherence between the two products. Data collection will also focus on gathering insights and input from participants that will aid uptake and continuation and inform future programming of oral PrEP.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 330
• Est. completion date: April 2024
• Est. primary completion date: December 13, 2023
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Female
• Age group: 15 Years to 24 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Female, age 15 to 24 years (inclusive)

2. Literate, per local standards, to English and/or local language

3. In general good health, per participant reported medical history and investigator judgement, without any clinically significant systemic disease including but not limited to: significant liver disease or hepatitis, gastrointestinal disease, kidney disease, osteoporosis or bone disease (e.g., pathologic bone fractures not related to trauma), autoimmune disorder, and diabetes.

4. Willing to give voluntary informed consent and sign an informed consent form

5. Sexually active or considered at risk of acquiring HIV

6. Willing and able to comply with protocol requirements, including swallowing tablets

7. Total body weight >35 kg

8. eGFR or Creatinine Clearance of >60 mL/min according to the Cockcroft-Gault formula

9. Has not used oral PrEP ever (PrEP naïve) or in the past 6 months

10. If pregnant, must be considered a healthy, singleton pregnancy, considered low risk by local standard of obstetric practices

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Positive test for HIV or HBsAg

2. Signs or symptoms of acute HIV infection

3. Use of ARV PrEP within the past 180 days

4. History of sensitivity or allergy to any component of the study drug products

5. Systemic use in the last two (2) weeks or anticipated use during the course of the study of any restricted products

6. Known current drug or alcohol abuse which could impact study compliance

7. Grade 2 or higher laboratory abnormality, except for CrCl 60-90 mL/min, per the Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (DAIDS) Table for Grading the Severity of Adverse Events, or clinically significant laboratory abnormality as determined by the clinician or study PI

8. Abnormal finding on laboratory or physical examination or a social or medical condition in the volunteer, which, in the opinion of the investigator, would make participation in the study unsafe or would complicate interpretation of data

9. Participation in any other investigational trial with use of a drug/device within the last 30 days or planned participation in any other investigational trial with use of a drug/device during the study

10. History of pathological bone fracture

11. Pregnant <33 weeks gestation; breastfeeding with infant >6 months old

12. Has a sexual partner confirmed to be HIV positive per participant report

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Acceptability of Health Care
• Adherence, Medication

Intervention

Drug:
• emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide
200mg/25mg tablet, once daily dosing for 24 weeks
• Emtricitabine / Tenofovir Disoproxil Oral Tablet
200mg/300mg tablet, once daily dosing for 24 weeks

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
South Africa	MatCH Research Unit	Durban	KZN
South Africa	CAPRISA Vulindlela	Pietermaritzburg	KZN
Zimbabwe	Harare Health and Research Consortium (HHRC)	Harare

Sponsors (5)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Eastern Virginia Medical School	CONRAD, FHI 360, Gilead Sciences, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Countries where clinical trial is conducted

South Africa,  Zimbabwe, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Psychometric scales predictive validity of adherence to study product	Participant classifications based on correlations between screening scales and DBS drug concentrations	3 and 6 months
Primary	Compare the discontinuation rate between arms	Acceptability will be assessed by discontinuation of study product	3 months
Secondary	Adherence to study product	Concentrations of TFV-DP and FTC-TP in dried blood spots (DBS)	3 months