Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Guidelines play an important role in raising awareness about the latest scientific research and standardizing medical practice. Our team created Canada's first clinical guidelines on HIV pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) in 2017, and recently completed updating this important document in mid-2025. However, the field of HIV prevention is advancing rapidly, and groundbreaking clinical trial results on a new PrEP option called lenacapavir were recently released. The trials showed that an injection of this medication every six months was safe, well-tolerated and dramatically more effective than existing oral PrEP among cisgender women who have sex with men, and among diverse sexual and gender minorities who have sex with men. These study results show that this product has tremendous potential to reduce HIV infection rates, which remain excessively high across Canada. It is important to incorporate these findings into the guidelines so that people at risk of acquiring HIV in Canada and the healthcare providers who serve them will have access to the most up-to-date information about this product as soon as it is approved for this purpose by Health Canada. Building on our recently completed work, we will conduct a literature review and a series of online and in-person meetings with our existing expert panel to create updated recommendations about lenacapavir PrEP. We will use the rigorous GRADE process for guideline development and disseminate findings widely in English and French through our knowledge translation partners including CATIE and CTN+.