---
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.md"
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.md>) 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.md>)*

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

## More

- [Bill and Melinda Gates are Funding an Implant That Could Help Prevent HIV](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/bill-and-melinda-gates-are-funding-an-implant-that-could-help-prevent-hiv.md>)
- [Man Who Believes Poppers Cause AIDS Is Planning to Gut America’s HIV Prevention Office](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/rfk-jr-poppers-hiv-prevention.md>)
- [Scientists Find that Monthly Injections are Better than Daily Pills at Fighting HIV](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-find-that-monthly-injections-are-better-than-daily-pills-at-fighting-hiv.md>)
- [A Vaccine for HIV Is About to Be Tested in Thousands of People](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/vaccine-hiv-tested-thousands-people.md>)
- [Pharma Company to Start Human Trials of HIV Cure Next Year](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/pharma-company-human-trials-hiv-cure.md>)
- [Scientists Move Remarkably Close to a Functional Cure for HIV](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-move-remarkably-close-to-a-functional-cure-for-hiv.md>)
- [Scientists Assert That A Child has Officially Been “Virtually Cured” of HIV](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-assert-that-a-child-has-officially-been-virtually-cured-of-hiv.md>)
- [New Data Suggests That HIV/AIDS is No Longer the Leading Cause of Death in Africa](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/new-data-suggests-that-hivaids-is-no-longer-the-leading-cause-of-death-in-africa.md>)