Long-acting medicines could make daily tablets a thing of the past for some patients

Long-acting medicines are increasingly aiming to reduce the daily burden of taking prescriptions for chronic conditions, potentially cutting missed doses and improving adherence. These therapies release drugs gradually into the bloodstream and can be administered monthly, every few months, or even twice a year. The article links missed doses to serious outcomes, citing antimicrobial resistance—associated with 4.95 million deaths worldwide in 2019—and notes that unused prescriptions cost the UK’s NHS more than £300 million each year, besides adding waste from packaging. It points to long-acting HIV prevention and treatment as proof of concept: NHS England and NICE have recommended long-acting cabotegravir for people at high risk who can’t take oral PrEP, with injections every two months instead of daily tablets. More recent research is also exploring long-acting injectables.