Smart PrEP System Trial

Biologists from the Cook County Health and Hospitals System are searching for nearly 100 men who have sex with men (MSM) without HIV between 16 and 24 years old to their “smart PrEP” system trial. System can show to the treating doctor in the real time if his patient has taken PrEP systematically or not.

Those chosen to participate will be part of a randomized control study that compares PrEP adherence over 24 weeks with or without smart pills.

For people interested in enrolling in the study, please contact Kody Keckler at (312) 572-4716.

“Adherence -- by that I mean, taking PrEP daily as instructed -- is so critical. We know if people take at least 4 pills of PrEP a week, they will achieve a high level of HIV protection. But the No. 1 factor or determinant of whether one is adherent is age. So if we can provide a tool that provides real-time patient support with real-time adherence monitoring for adolescents, who are least adherent, we could make great strides in HIV prevention." - said Jennifer Brothers, Project Director at CCHHS' Hektoen Institute of Medicine and one of the lead researchers in the smart PrEP study.

‘The pill Truvada -- the only PrEP drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration -- has a sensor tablet encapsulated over it, so that when the pill is swallowed, the sensor tablet comes in contact with gastric fluid in the stomach and creates an electrical signal. The electrical signal is less than the frequency of a heartbeat, so nobody is going to feel it. But it transmits a signal in real-time that the pill has been ingested." -  explained Dr. Gregory Huhn, CCHHS' Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases and principal investigator of the trial.