HIV is known for its ability to outsmart our immune system’s normal defences. A small number of people living with HIV are however able to generate more effective immune responses to HIV. In this special briefing, Catherine Tomlinson zooms in on broadly neutralising antibodies, the secret sauce in these immune responses.
If an HIV prevention pill that provides a month of protection at a time performs well in two ongoing clinical trials, it could become the next big thing in HIV prevention after the lenacapavir injection. A new licensing agreement is paving the way for South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare to produce the pill should the study findings be positive and the drug be registered.
The health department has plans to roll out lenacapavir, a twice-yearly HIV prevention injection, in a select group of public sector clinics by April 2026. Meanwhile, little progress has been made towards rolling out a two-monthly prevention injection, despite the four-year head start this product had on lenacapavir. Catherine Tomlinson reports.
An HIV prevention pill that could provide a month of protection per tablet has been given the green light to proceed to pivotal trials to test its efficacy. Elri Voigt reports on new findings on the pill that were presented at the International AIDS Conference.
A single shot of a new formulation of the antiretroviral drug lenacapavir could potentially provide protection against HIV infection for as long as a year. Elri Voigt reports on this and some of the other exciting research on long-acting anti-HIV medicines presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.
Highly effective treatments for HIV have existed since the mid-1990s. But while these treatments keep people healthy, we do not yet have a safe and scalable way to completely rid the body of the virus. In this Spotlight special briefing, Elri Voigt takes stock of where we are in the decades-long search for an HIV cure.
In South Africa, taking HIV treatment means taking one or more antiretroviral tablets a day. People in some other countries have the additional option of treatment in the form of two injections administered every two months. Elri Voigt unpacks why long-acting HIV treatment is not available in South Africa and asks why the push for HIV prevention jabs has been so much stronger than that for HIV treatment jabs.
Taking antiretrovirals to prevent HIV infection mostly still involves swallowing one or more pills a day. Some long-acting products that work for a month or two at a time have been approved but are not yet in wide use in South Africa. As delegates gathered for the 25th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2024) last week, Elri Voigt takes stock of the latest developments in this fast-moving field.
New research shows a quick-dissolving, rectal suppository designed to prevent HIV infection is safe, although its efficacy remains to be tested in clinical trials, some of which will be conducted in South Africa. Still, the findings released late Tuesday could herald the start of a new “take as needed” era in HIV prevention.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority recently approved the use of the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring for women 18 years and older to reduce the risk of HIV infection. Thabo Molelekwa looks at the evidence for the ring’s efficacy and asks what plans there are for making it available to women in South Africa.
A UNAIDS report published earlier this year estimates that just under 4.5 million men and boys accessed voluntary male medical circumcision services in South Africa by the end of 2019 with 47% of these having been performed from 2016 to 2019. Thabo Molelekwa reports on the impact COVID-19 has had on VMMCs and the challenges related to resuming this service in the country.
