Avac Event

Investing in Biomedical Innovation for Health and Economic Growth

This Financial Times webinar, hosted in partnership with ViiV Healthcare, will bring together policymakers, funders, researchers, philanthropies and industry leaders to explore how to keep medical innovation moving forward. The conversation will examine how to create the right conditions for future breakthroughs – and deliver clear benefits for patients, health systems, economies and society. Speakers will discuss how to better recognise the economic, health and social impact of new medicines, how partnerships can help share risk and accelerate progress, and how new funding models could support the next generation of drug development.

Speakers:

  • Gloria Ghéquière, Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Minister of Health, Federal Government of Belgium
  • Dr Nicole Kleinstreuer, Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPS), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Mitchell Warren, Executive Director, AVAC

Moderator:

  • Michael Peel, Science Editor, Financial Times 

Avac Event

Aftershocks Roundtable: How do we rebuild our HIV and public health infrastructure?

Please join TCA and IAPAC’s Dr. José M. Zuniga – author of the new book “Aftershocks: Trump 2.0, Public Health, and Our Better Angels” – and a dynamic panel to discuss the profound disruption of public health systems over the past almost two years and the urgent need for a coordinated movement to defend and ultimately rebuild them.

“Public health has always been about more than controlling disease,” says Dr. Zuniga. “It is a collective promise that where people live, who they are, whom they love, or how much they earn will not determine whether they can live healthy and dignified lives. That promise is being tested. Our response must be organized, courageous, and ambitious enough not merely to recover what has been lost, but to build what should have existed all along.”

Speakers:

  • Dr. José M. Zuniga, Fast-Track Health, “Aftershocks” author
  • Definate Nhamo, Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation
  • Harold Phillips, NMAC
  • Dr. Shannon Hader, American University School of International Service
  • Tian Johnson, African Alliance

Avac Event

Combo bNAbs for HIV Prevention – Latest Developments

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) remain at the center of research toward an HIV vaccine and immune-based HIV prevention. In particular, researchers are advancing the concept of “combo AMP” – passive delivery of a combination of bNAbs targeting multiple sites on the viral envelope – achieving broader and stronger protection than with a single bNAb, as in the original AMP trial.  

At AIDS 2026, the CAPRISA team from Durban, South Africa announced results from the CAP 012c Phase 2 trial examining a combination of two bNAbs, which unfortunately showed no statistically significant difference in HIV incidence rates between the combo bNAb and placebo arms.  

The HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) is currently designing a three bNAb combination study. Additional bNAb research is tracked as part of AVAC’s People’s Research Agenda. 

In this webinar, we shared the latest updates on the bNAb pipeline and discussed what the future holds. 

Read the Summary

Avac Event

Plain Language as Scientific Accountability: How to Communicate Science Beyond Academic Audiences

This joint UW/Fred Hutch—Penn CFAR session brings the two CFARs together in conversation around how we communicate science beyond academic audiences. This session will present examples of technical language from HIV cure, prevention, and treatment research and ask what happens when the people most affected by the science cannot easily understand what researchers are saying. Then participants will roll up their sleeves and work together to make that language clearer without losing the science.

Avac Event

Evolving Oral PrEP Guidance for Cis Women: What do we know, and what will it take?

Scientific consensus is evolving, but PrEP clinical equity remains unachieved. Recent data has challenged the “conventional wisdom” surrounding vaginal PrEP tissue concentrations, proving oral PrEP (TDF/FTC, TAF/FTC) is significantly more forgiving than historic messaging for cis women suggested. This has implications for what we understand as “time to protection” as well as “on-demand” PrEP, and may impact trans and non-binary people as well.

What will it take to update the discordant guidelines for women? Can better, more accurate alignment advance equity for cis women, trans folks and non-binary people?

Speakers:

  • Dr. Heather-Marie Anne Schmidt, UNAIDS
  • Simon Collins, HIV i-Base
  • Dr. Jenell Stewart, University of Minnesota
  • Dr. Raphael Landovitz, University of California Los Angeles

Recording / Transcript / Slides

Avac Event

The Persistence Paradigm: Ensuring the Longevity of Health Equity Research

In these exceptional times, how is health equity research faring? What can we collaboratively do to sustain and continue this important work which is so critical to supporting healthy communities and an HIV response? How can academia and community better synergize and mobilize? How do we know what to do next?

There is no one answer, and instead different approaches are necessary. On August 13, The Choice Agenda and global leaders discussed options, strategies, tactics, contexts and perspectives we need to consider to continue progress toward health equity.

Speakers/panelists:

  • Dr. Annesa Flentje, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University and The PRIDE Study, Stanford University
  • Dr. Brian Mustanski, Northwestern University Impact Institute
  • Grace Kumwenda, AVAC
  • Luciana Kamel, Community Advocate and PhD Candidate in Public Health, Instituto Medicina Social (IMS/UERJ), Brazil
  • Dr. Tabea Hässler, University of Zurich

Recording / Transcript / Slides / Resources

Avac Event

Community First: Practical Strategies for Inclusive Implementation Science

On Wednesday, July 15, The Choice Agenda and Hunter College’s Dr. Sarit Golub held a participatory discussion on implementation science – including opportunities, pitfalls and ways in which community leadership – beyond perfunctory “engagement” – is essential to success. What are the different types of implementation science, and how do we move forward with community and front-line implementers at the helm?

Speaker
Dr. Sarit Golub, Hunter College
BLUPrint

Recording / Slides / Transcript

Avac Event

The Future Won’t Build Itself: Sustaining the Movement CASPR Started

During the webinar, AVAC and partners launched the CASPR Impact Report, which details the achievements of the Coalition to Accelerate & Support Prevention Research (CASPR) over the course of 8+ years. We shared wins, discuss lessons for the field and provided perspectives on the future of HIV prevention advocacy with AVAC’s global network.

Learn more about CASPR.

Avac Event

PrEP Power Webinar — Global Countries

The recent significant changes to global health funding have severely impacted HIV prevention services for those who need them most, in particular key populations (KPs). Already, some countries are seeing concerning trends in data suggesting a resurgence in new infections. At the same time, powerful new HIV prevention options are now a reality, though their promise is not set to be fully realized according to current planning.

This is the second in a series of two webinars providing an overview of what is happening now in countries to HIV prevention services for KPs, featuring tools and analyses produced by GBGMC, in partnership with Access Bridge to support advocacy and planning at country levels.

Speakers will include an array of experts on the global landscape, as well as country and community perspectives.

Discussions Will Explore:

  • Global product introduction experiences
  • Lessons from early adopter countries
  • Policy environments and implementation realities
  • Strategies for equitable LEN access

Featured Countries: Brazil, France, Philippines, Ukraine, United States, Vietnam

Avac Event

PrEP Power Webinar — African Countries

The recent significant changes to global health funding have severely impacted HIV prevention services for those who need them most, in particular key populations (KPs). Already, some countries are seeing concerning trends in data suggesting a resurgence in new infections. At the same time, powerful new HIV prevention options are now a reality, though their promise is not set to be fully realized according to current planning.

This is the first in a series of two webinars providing an overview of what is happening now in countries to HIV prevention services for KPs, featuring tools and analyses produced by GBGMC, in partnership with Access Bridge to support advocacy and planning at country levels.

Speakers will include an array of experts on the global landscape, as well as country and community perspectives.

Featured countries: Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe