Advancing HIV prevention options: Adolescent girls and young women

The need for new HIV prevention options among adolescent girls and young women ages 15-24 is urgent. In sub-Saharan Africa, this group is more than twice as likely to acquire HIV as young men. And four of every five new HIV infections among adolescents are among girls ages 15-19. 

IPM is exploring how the monthly dapivirine ring could fit into the lives of adolescent girls and young women to inform potential expansion of any future regulatory approval for the ring to adolescents ages 15-17, and to help us understand how to support both adolescents and young women to use the product consistently.

Gathering those data is crucial to encouraging product uptake and adherence among this key group. Phase III data showed lower HIV risk reduction among women 18-21 due to low product use. Other HIV prevention trials have seen similar product adherence challenges among young people more broadly. 

  • To learn about the ring’s safety among adolescent girls, IPM partnered with MTN on a now-completed safety trial among girls ages 15-17 in the US (MTN-030/IPM 031) that showed a favorable safety profile, and girls in the study said they liked the product and found it easy to use. 
  • In addition, a second trial called REACH recently showed encouraging results on the ring’s safety, use and acceptability among adolescent girls and young women ages 16-21 in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Participants used the study products, the monthly ring and a daily oral HIV prevention pill known as PrEP, for six months each, followed by a “choice period” where they chose to use one product, or neither, for an additional six months. Interim results presented at IAS 2021 indicated that both products are well-tolerated and acceptable, and results presented at CROI 2022 found that two-thirds of participants who accepted a product in the “choice period” chose the ring. Together, these findings support the dapivirine ring as a feasible prevention choice for adolescent girls and young women who cannot or choose not to use daily oral PrEP.