This report summarizes and reports next steps from an AVAC and FP2030 convened consultation with family planning (FP) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) stakeholders. The aim of the consultation was to understand stakeholders’ unique perspectives on the Dual Prevention Pill (DPP), a daily oral pill that prevents HIV and pregnancy. The consultation helped to elevate questions and issues to consider as DPP introduction plans are refined and that can also inform the development and delivery of future multi-purpose prevention technologies (MPTs).
Consultation with FP/SRH Stakeholders on the Dual Prevention Pill
What Matters Right Now for Rolling Out the Ring and Injectable PrEP?
The HIV field has two new approved prevention options waiting in the wings, the dapivirine vaginal ring and injectable cabotegravir as PrEP. Until now, daily oral PrEP, first approved in 2012, has been the only drug-based strategy for HIV prevention.
So here we are: research has shown safety and efficacy for both the ring and injectable cabotegravir. Now it’s time to take the next steps to deliver these options and translate advances in science into real impact on the epidemic.
At AVAC, we’ve been calling for coordinated planning to introduce and rollout new products, while expanding access to existing options. These efforts must learn from the mistakes of the past, especially lessons from rolling out oral PrEP.
In this episode of PxPulse, Linda-Gail Bekker from South Africa’s Desmond Tutu Health Foundation and Lillian Mworeko from the International Community of Women Living with HIV East Africa (ICWEA) join host Jeanne Baron and AVAC’s Executive Director Mitchell Warren to discuss innovative models for scale-up and delivery. Taking the right steps now could mean HIV prevention options fulfill their life-saving, epidemic-ending potential, and to do so requires working faster and more efficiently than ever before.
We dive into what lessons the field has learned, what’s still off-track, and the steps advocates, policy makers, drug makers and funders should each take right now to turn efficacious options into effective choices.
Resources
Dapivirine Vaginal Ring
Cabotegravir
Ring and CAB
Experimental mRNA-based Preventive HIV Vaccine Phase 1 Trials
The NIH announced a new study to test three mRNA-based HIV vaccine candidates. This study follows an announcement in January from IAVI about another mRNA-based HIV vaccine study. This snapshot compares the two studies.
HIV Testing for Advocates
Basics of HIV Testing and Implications for HIV Prevention
This slide deck provides and overview of HIV testing—types of test, WHO guidelines, current issues in testing, looking ahead, resources and more.
CUREiculum 2.0
The CUREiculum strengthens community capacity to understand and engage in discussions about HIV cure-related research by providing basic information on a variety of topics in meaningful and accessible language, so that it is understandable to a wide variety of audiences and learning styles. The tools are designed for community educators, funders, media and other stakeholders interested in learning more about HIV cure-related research.
Visit https://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/cure/cureiculum-2-0/
Efficacy Study Design
This graphic details the trial design behind HPTN 083 and HPTN 084, two-large scale efficacy trials testing cabotegravir, an antiretroviral formulated as an injectable for long-lasting pre- exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
To learn more, read An Advocates’ Primer on Long-Acting Injectable Cabotegravir for PrEP.
Multipurpose Prevention Technologies (MPTs): Technology Landscape and Potential for Low- and Middle-Income Countries
This landscape report provides an overview of the current novel technologies in development and assesses their relevance and potential in low- and middle-income countries. While the pipeline is rich, the report calls out the need to involve key populations early in the design, introduction and scale-up of new products and proactively address potential market barriers. These considerations, as well as plans for adoption, manufacturing capacity, a broad supply base and an effective introduction strategy are crucial to developing solutions that are accessible, affordable, and acceptable and truly respond to people’s needs.
Research Fundamentals: What is an endpoint?
The next installment of our Px Pulse series Research Fundamentals, explaining key concepts in HIV prevention research, is up. In this episode, Px Pulse host Jeanne Baron and Matthew Rose, a veteran HIV advocate and now Director at Global Health Strategies, look at endpoints in research.
Endpoints are a crucial component in every clinical trial but they are not always well understood. In addition, advocates can and should play a role, reviewing endpoints and interrogating how well the trial will serve communities that need HIV prevention.
Joining us to explore all this are:
- Dave Glidden, Professor of Epidemiology & Bio-statistics at UC San Francisco
- Erica Lessem, Senior Strategist for NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene, former Deputy Executive Director, Treatment Action Group
- Meagan O’Brien, Senior Medical Director of Early Clinical Development & Clinical Experimental Sciences at Regeneron
Listen to learn how endpoints are used in clinical research, why they change overtime, and what matters most about endpoints for advocates and researchers alike.
HIV Prevention Research & Development Investments Report
The annual HIV Prevention Research and Development Investments Report reveals a growing mismatch between the current promise of HIV prevention R&D, and consistent declines in the funding available to both research new HIV prevention approaches and expand access to the prevention tools available today. The 2020 report, based on outreach to 215 funders of HIV prevention R&D in the public, philanthropic and commercial sectors, is the 16th annual report from the Resource Tracking for HIV Prevention Research & Development Working Group.
Read the report at hivresourcetracking.org.
AVAC’s Strategic Plan 2022-2026
AVAC’s strategic framework is grounded in a multi-layered approach that carefully considers all of the components needed to achieve the organization’s vision, capitalize on its key strengths, and ensure that AVAC is poised to make an impact on the issues it cares most about over the next five years, and beyond.
The vision describes the world we are striving for. The mission describes what AVAC does in service to achieving this vision. The strategic pillars outline the objectives and approaches that AVAC will take over the next five years to achieve its mission and vision. The strategic pillars are supported by AVAC’s core values—the principles by which we work—as well as a set of key enablers.