2018 HIV Drug Therapy DAA

A report on Sarah Fidler’s presentation “Approaches towards a cure for HIV” 

Sarah Fidler opened her lecture on HIV cure by provocatively asking – with the advances in drug therapy in the last decade, do we even need a cure? Of course with the financial costs of ARVs in addition to the potential impacts of ageing with HIV, a cure is ideal. 

The sterilising cure, used 9 years ago in the Berlin patient, has been thus far unreproducible. Redefining our expectations is an important first step to recognise the potential for products in the pipeline. Aiming therefore for a “functional cure”, one with a very low sustained viral load, could be achievable. This would allow for host control of viral replication without continued treatment, immune function restored, as well as stabilised, HIV-induced inflammation reduced, and very low risk of transmission to others. 

A report on Sarah Fidler's presentation "Approaches towards a cure for HIV"

This presentation, on the third day of the conference was one of the best attended - with an entirely packed auditorium. As a Clinical Trials Coordinator, the question of a cure comes up on a regular basis in my work. Even though we now have U=U, and with most patients having a very small burden, there are still those who yearn to be pill and disease free.