Advances in HIV: Where Are We?

At CROI 2017, James McIntyre, MBChB, Anova Health Institute explained that HIV prevention remains one of the most important things researchers still have to deal with. They see somewhere near 1.9 million new infections globally every year and have a target to reduce that to less than 500,000 a year by 2020, but the world is no where near on track. While advances have seen less deaths and some reduction in new infections, they are not enough.

According to McIntyre, the field of prevention is an exciting one, since they do see a number of advances in approaches. Regardless, McIntyre explained that preention trials take some time and right now the use of PrEP is the game changer - it can be taken successfully, according to trial results and access programs. He pointed out that people can adhere to PrEP, and when they do, the risk of infection is almost eliminated.

Finally, McIntyre highlighted that cost remains an issue in the developed world, but it's more of a question of how drugs are implemented within health services that are really strained.