Illustrative case: Matias, 27 years old, seeks medical guidance after seeing on social media that there is an "injection against HIV". He has already heard about PrEP in tablet form, but has never been able to maintain daily use. He wants to know if the novelty is real and whether he will be able to use it.

"The data and clinical case cited in this article are fictitious and are for illustrative purposes only, serving to facilitate understanding of the subject addressed."

Matias's story is common: many people know that medicinal prevention for HIV exists, but have difficulty maintaining a daily routine of tablets. That is exactly the problem that the new strategy announced by the Ministry of Health aims to resolve. During the 26th International Conference on Aids, held in Rio de Janeiro between 26 and 31 July 2026, the Brazilian government presented plans to expand the prevention options available in the SUS.

What is PrEP and what changes with the injectable version

PrEP stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis: the use of medications by people without HIV to reduce the risk of infection before exposure to the virus. Today the SUS already offers oral PrEP free of charge, which needs to be taken every day to work well. More than 350,000 people already use this form in Brazil.

The novelty is injectable cabotegravir, applied every two months instead of daily. The Ministry of Health will submit to Conitec (National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the SUS) a formal request for incorporation of the medication, with the expectation that the analysis will be completed still in 2026.

Why the injection can make a difference

The main advantage discussed by specialists is not the efficacy itself, but adherence to treatment. A Fiocruz study with 1,400 people in six Brazilian cities showed that 83% of them preferred the injectable application to tablets, and 94% attended health services on time to renew protection. No participant in this study was infected with the virus during the period. Real-world data released by the laboratories that developed the medication also indicate a very low annual infection rate among injection users.

This matters because, in practice, a forgotten tablet is one of the biggest reasons for oral PrEP failure. Reducing the frequency of doses from 365 to 6 applications per year tends to facilitate continuity of care, especially for those with a less stable routine or difficulty maintaining daily habits.

Another technology on the radar: lenacapavir

The Ministry of Health is also negotiating access to lenacapavir, a preventive administered every six months approved by Anvisa in January 2026. For now, negotiations with the responsible laboratory have not yet reached an amount considered viable for the public system, so this option remains on hold.

The numbers that support the strategy

Investment in prevention has been reflected in the indicators: 2024 registered the largest historical decline in AIDS mortality in Brazil, with fewer than 10,000 deaths in the year. Over the last three years, the distribution of preventive medications by the SUS has grown 150%, and the performance of rapid tests has doubled. Today, 22% of people diagnosed with HIV already begin treatment on the same day as confirmation.

And what about the news regarding HIV "cure", what do they mean?

At the same conference, researchers announced two more cases of people who remain without detectable viral load even after stopping the use of antiretrovirals, bringing to 13 the number of cases thus recorded in the world. The two most recent patients underwent stem cell transplants to treat serious blood diseases, such as leukaemia, and received bone marrow from donors with a rare genetic mutation (CCR5-delta32) that makes it difficult for the virus to enter defence cells. The transplant was not performed as treatment for HIV, but as oncological treatment, and remission of the virus was an effect observed afterwards.

It is important to understand the limits of this news. Experts prefer the term "sustained HIV remission without antiretrovirals" to "definitive cure", because there is still no test capable of guaranteeing that no infected cell remains hidden somewhere in the body. Stem cell transplantation is also not indicated for the majority of people living with HIV, as it is a high-risk procedure reserved for those who already need it for another serious medical reason. That is: it is a relevant scientific advance for understanding the virus, but it is not an alternative available or recommended outside this very specific context.

What does this mean in practice

These two pieces of news, the possible arrival of injectable PrEP and the new cases of remission, move in different directions, but complement each other. Remission shows how far science can go in exceptional cases. Injectable PrEP, if approved, is a concrete tool that can reach thousands of people still this year, facilitating adherence to a care that is already effective today. For those living with HIV, the message remains the same: maintain antiretroviral treatment as advised, since interruption outside specialised medical supervision is not safe.

Important notice: this content is informative and educational in nature and does not replace consultation, diagnosis or treatment with a healthcare professional. Each case should be evaluated individually. Seek medical guidance to clarify questions about HIV prevention, testing or treatment.

Dr Rebeca Soares Andrade CRM - GO 39335