# Development of Ingestible Biosensors to Enhance PrEP Adherence in Substance Users

> **NIH NIH K23** · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · 2022 · $67,491

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The HIV epidemic continues to disproportionately affect individuals with health disparities. Marginalization,
substance use disorder, stigma and other health disparities contribute to decreased mood which influences key
health behaviors like adherence to oral HIV pre-exposure chemoprophylaxis (PrEP). These key disparities
contributed to the world failing to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goals in 2020 to end the HIV epidemic. One of
the pillars to ending the epidemic is improving uptake and persistent to PrEP. While efficacious, men who have
sex with men (MSM) with substance use disorders (SUD) experience multiple intersectional marginalized
identities which lead to PrEP nonadherence. Technologies to detect PrEP adherence patterns continue to be
developed to advance interventions that support adherence. The parent award, K23DA044874, develops a
preventive intervention, PrEPSteps, that leverages an ingestible radiofrequency transmitter (digital pill system)
to directly measure adherence. This digital pill then drives personalized adherence skills training that
addresses PrEP nonadherence at the moment it occurs. In this administrative supplement, we will integrate
measures of health disparities including the intersectional discrimination index and profile of mood states into
the fabric of the parent pilot randomized controlled trial to understand mechanisms of how these health
disparities influence uptake of the digital pill intervention and PrEP adherence. We will additionally conduct
formative qualitative interviews among parent study participants and healthcare providers who prescribed PrEP
grounded in the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to understand how health
systems may implement digital pills to measure PrEP adherence with a lens of health disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10674107
- **Project number:** 3K23DA044874-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter R Chai
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $67,491
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-06-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10674107

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10674107, Development of Ingestible Biosensors to Enhance PrEP Adherence in Substance Users (3K23DA044874-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10674107. Licensed CC0.

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