---
title: "This Tiny Implant Could Prevent HIV for an Entire Year"
description: "An HIV implant that delivers preventative medications proved effective and well-tolerated in an initial trial, according to its developer."
date: "2019-07-24"
modified: "2019-07-24"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/hiv-implant-prevent-entire-year"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "AIDS"
  - "HIV"
  - "implant"
  - "the digest"
---

# This Tiny Implant Could Prevent HIV for an Entire Year

![An HIV implant that delivers preventative medications proved effective and well-tolerated in an initial trial, according to its developer.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/hiv-implant-prevent-entire-year.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Merck/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Ounce of Prevention

Today, people at a high risk of [contracting HIV](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/big-pharma-hiv-vaccine-trial>) can choose to take a daily medication called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This can prevent them from catching the virus — not entirely unlike how the daily birth control pill can prevent pregnancy.

But just like some people have trouble remembering to take their birth control pill every day, there's a chance a person might forget to consistently take their PrEP, which makes it far [less effective.](<https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep.html>)

Now, global biopharmaceutical company Merck thinks it's found a [solution to this problem](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/health/hiv-aids-implant.html>): an implant that delivers a year's worth of HIV-preventing medication gradually, ending the need for daily pills.

## Implant Power

Merck's HIV implant isn't too different from the birth control implant favored by many people — it's about the size of a matchstick and sits just under the skin in a person's upper arm.

On Tuesday, the company [announced](<https://mailchi.mp/ias2019/press-hiv-prevention-tools?e=cce6a62396>) the results of a Phase 1 trial of the implant, saying it was "well tolerated" and effective at delivering an HIV-preventing medication.

## Cautiously Optimistic

While the trial involved just 12 men and lasted for just 12 weeks, Merck said in a [press release](<https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190723005622/en/Merck-Presents-Early-Evidence-Extended-Delivery-Investigational>) that it is encouraged by the results.

National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Anthony S. Fauci, who wasn't involved in the trial, meanwhile, is cautiously optimistic.

"If — and I’m emphasizing *if* — if it pans out in a larger trial that it delivers a level of drug that’s protective for a year, that would be a game-changer," he [told *The New York Times*](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/health/hiv-aids-implant.html>).

**READ MORE:** [Someday, an Arm Implant May Prevent H.I.V. Infection for a Year](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/health/hiv-aids-implant.html>) \[*The New York Times*\]

**More on HIV:** *[This Pharma Company Is Set to Begin HIV Vaccine Trials](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/big-pharma-hiv-vaccine-trial>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)