News

22 July 2019

Beyond antibodies: conference hears of new molecular tools to kill HIV-infected reservoir cells

The 2019 HIV and Hepatitis B Cure Forum took place on 20-21st July immediately before the 10th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) in Mexico City this week. The forum this year included research into curing chronic hepatitis B infection as well as HIV, as the two viruses share
22 July 2019

PrEP services could enhance STI control, says World Health Organization

The roll-out of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) provides an opportunity to bring down the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), provided that PrEP and STI programmes are better co-ordinated and integrated, representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday at the 10th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) in Mexico City.While
21 July 2019

Indonesia commits to piloting PrEP

Indonesia has decided to pilot pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in four cities with high levels of HIV prevalence.
21 July 2019

PrEP Education Campaigns Leave People Who Inject Drugs Behind

On July 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report that found an “encouraging” increase in recent years in urban-living queer men’s awareness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). But in some of the cities covered by the CDC’s report, many people who inject drugs are wholly unaware of the “miracle drug,” as HIV activists have dubbed it.

No new cases of HIV among people in Wales taking PrEP

Vaughan Gething, the Welsh minister for health and social services, said he was “delighted” that access to PrEP was now “fully embedded” into sexual health services.
21 July 2019

Market for HIV Prevention Drugs May More Than Double, Citi Says

An experimental drug from Merck & Co may lead the way in the U.S. market, Citi said. Baum estimates MK-8591 may reach sales of $7 billion in HIV. Of that total, $3.5 billion may come from pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, as the preventative treatments are called.
17 July 2019

What’s the relationship between PrEP, condom use and STIs?

HIV experts and professionals agree that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a valuable addition to HIV prevention, but have varied views of the relationship between PrEP, reduced condom use and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to a study published last month in the Sociology of Health & Illness.Professor Martin Holt of the University of New South
17 July 2019

New Algorithms Could Help Providers ID PrEP Candidates

Electronic prompts for clinicians to recommend Truvada to people at risk for HIV could help increase PrEP’s impact.
15 July 2019

Trial Pairs PrEP With Behavioral Intervention to Prevent HIV in Drug Users

Yale University investigators are leading a trial that is testing a bio-behavioral intervention’s ability to improve pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence and reduce the risk of HIV acquisition in individuals with opioid dependency, a population experiencing new outbreaks of HIV.
15 July 2019

Are 2 million bottles of PrEP an empty gesture?

Gilead should either commit to providing all the doses of PrEP required for everyone who would benefit or open the market up to a range of generic manufacturers.
12 July 2019

Trial Pairs PrEP With Behavioral Intervention to Prevent HIV in Drug Users

Yale University investigators are leading a trial that is testing a bio-behavioral intervention’s ability to improve pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence and reduce the risk of HIV acquisition in individuals with opioid dependency, a population experiencing new outbreaks of HIV.
12 July 2019

How Australia Could Almost Eradicate H.I.V. Transmissions

It took universal health care, political will and a health campaign designed to terrify the public, but nearly four decades into the H.I.V. crisis, Australian researchers say the country is on a path toward making transmissions of the virus vanishingly rare.
11 July 2019

In New York City, PrEP on Demand Is Now on the Menu for Men Who Have Sex With Men

For a long time, the most common way to describe pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) was that it is a daily pill taken to prevent acquiring HIV. But now, New York City is tackling what might be a barrier to PrEP uptake with its new on-demand PrEP initiative.
11 July 2019

Australian gay and bisexual men interested in switching to on-demand PrEP

Half of gay and bisexual men using PrEP in Australia would be interested in switching from taking daily PrEP to taking on-demand PrEP, and this interest was most strongly associated with having sex infrequently and concerns about long term side effects. The survey was carried out by Dr Vincent Cornelisse and colleagues and
1 July 2019

Nine HIV diagnoses in men on PrEP waiting list, Manchester

Nine gay men are known to have seroconverted since being put on a waiting list for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) at a single Manchester clinic, Dr Sally Jewsbury told the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) conference in Birmingham yesterday.Similar cases are likely to have gone undocumented across England, as a result of
27 June 2019

Transgender women tell researchers how to increase the uptake of PrEP in their community

Transgender women and transfeminine nonbinary individuals suggested a number of key issues that health services need to address in order to increase the uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among transgender people. These included addressing the contextual factors associated with HIV in this community, developing more inclusive messaging and imagery, healthcare providers having an ongoing
27 June 2019

High awareness but low uptake of PrEP among black and Hispanic transgender women in US study

There is high awareness but low uptake of HIV PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) among black and Latina transgender women in Baltimore and Washington DC, investigators report in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Although 87% had heard of PrEP, only 17% had taken it. However, three-quarters of HIV-negative individuals who had
21 June 2019

No HIV infections over two years among MSM and transgender individuals taking event-driven PrEP

No HIV infections occurred over two years of follow-up among individuals taking event-driven pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in a demonstration study conducted in Amsterdam, investigators report in Lancet HIV. The study recruited MSM and transgender individuals who were given the option of taking daily or event-based PrEP. Two HIV infections were documented, both involving individuals who opted
18 June 2019

PrEP reduces HIV infections by over 95% in US ‘real world’ study

A study of people prescribed pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) over a four-year period at a large centre in Los Angeles has found that HIV incidence in people taking PrEP was more than 95% lower than among service users who discontinued PrEP, and at least 92% lower than among the clinic population in general.These are
17 June 2019

Study illuminates PrEP treatment pathway and its facilitators and barriers for women in the Bronx

Self-perceived HIV risk, learning about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) via trusted sources, positive healthcare experiences and health insurance coverage are facilitators of PrEP initiation and continuation for at-risk minority women, according to research conducted in New York City and published in the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. The investigators identified three distinct phases