LONDON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline said onTuesday its HIV unit ViiV Healthcare had started a large studyto test an experimental long-acting injection for preventing thevirus that causes AIDS.
Reuters reported last month that the pre-exposureprophylaxis (PrEP) study with cabotegravir was about to start.
The Phase III study aims to enrol 4,500 men who have sexwith men, and transgender women who have sex with men, at morethan 40 sites in North and South America, Asia and Africa. Asecond study involving young women is due to start in 2017.
The trial comes hard on the heels of news that GSK's newtwo-drug HIV tablet therapy successfully controlled HIV in twolate-stage trials. (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Barbara Lewis)