European Advocates Engage with Biomedical Prevention

January 23, 2015

The European AIDS Treatment Group and AVAC organized an unprecedented three-day workshop: New Developments in HIV Prevention. The EATG-AVAC collaboration is an attempt to update EATG members on the latest developments in biomedical HIV prevention approaches; facilitate the exchange of state-of-the-art information on HIV prevention research topics between researchers and the community; and strengthen local and regional advocacy efforts in the area of HIV prevention R&D and related national/EU policies and funding.

Leading European advocates and researchers filled a Brussels conference room to discuss the latest scientific achievements in vaccines, treatment as prevention and ARV-based prevention in all its forms, and how to translate advances in science into infections averted in Europe and beyond. Representatives of several pharmaceutical companies were also on hand to provide their perspectives.

In addition to comprehensive updates on product pipelines across the prevention research landscape, the group is actively discussing the anticipation of the first data from European oral PrEP trials and the implications for PrEP access in Europe. Results from both the UK PROUD and French IPERGAY studies are scheduled for presentation at next month’s CROI conference.

Leading up to this meeting, EATG and AVAC hosted a webinar series in advance of the meeting so participants could bone up on new biomedical prevention developments. A meeting report and PowerPoint presentations will be available soon; in the meantime, get daily updates from the meeting and download the presentations from EATG member Tamas Bereczky’s blog.