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PrEP, Possibility, Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

The US Women and PrEP working group discussed PrEP, pregnancy and breastfeeding on October 5. A recording of the webinar can be found here.

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WHO Guidelines on when to start antiretroviral therapy and on pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV

WHO recently issued an “Early Release Guideline” on when to start antiretroviral therapy and on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. This document recommends 1) initiation of ART in adults living with HIV, regardless of CD4 cell count, and 2) offer of PrEP as a prevention option to all people at substantial risk of acquiring HIV. (The release is “early” relative to a comprehensive update of its consolidated ARV guidelines, slated to come out at the end of the year.) If implemented, these sweeping recommendations have the potential to change the world by simplifying ART for people living with HIV and revolutionizing prevention for people at risk.

In this webinar, Meg Doherty and Bob Grant from the Department of HIV/AIDS at WHO, spoke about the guideline and took questions. Links to the full presentation, slides and audio are below.

And for more background, Meg Doherty gave a presentation at IAS 2015 in Vancouver. Download the slides or view the presentation.

Avac Event

Demanding Clarity on PrEP: Understanding recent data on oral PrEP

This webinar featured Jean-Michel Molina of the French research agency ANRS and Sheena McCormack of the UK Medical Research Council discussing the data from the IPERGAY and PROUD studies, respectively. Both trials evaluated oral TDF/FTC (brand name Truvada) as PrEP in gay men and other men who have sex with men, and both reported high levels of protection against HIV acquisition. PROUD prescribed a daily pill regimen; IPERGAY asked trial participants to follow an “event driven” regimen that involved a sequence of doses before and after sex. IPERGAY participants took an average of four doses per week—comparable to the estimated protective dose required in trials of daily oral PrEP.

Prepare for the webinar with these talks from CROI and excerpts from AVAC Report 2014/15:

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After FACTS: What’s next for HIV prevention in women?

This webinar featured Helen Rees, principal investigator of the FACTS 001 microbicide trial of vaginal 1% tenofovir gel, and Jared Baeten, co-chair of Partners PrEP.

FACTS 001, which released data at CROI, found no evidence of protection overall associated with the vaginal gel. Partners Demonstration Project, which reported data at the same meeting, found that serodiscordant couples using oral PrEP and/or ART had very low levels of HIV transmission. We discussed what these and other data meant for women, including young and adolescent girls.

Download slides and audio from the webinar.

In advance of the webinar, we suggested the following talks from CROI and excerpts from AVAC Report 2014/15 as background:

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Moving forward with development of GSK1265744 (cabotegravir) for long-acting injectable PrEP in men and women

In this webinar, Raphael Landovitz, Protocol Chair, presented on HPTN 077—a Phase IIa safety, tolerability and acceptability study of an investigational injectable HIV integrase inhibitor, GSK1265744, for PrEP in HIV uninfected men and women. It is currently enrolling HIV uninfected men and women at low to minimal risk for acquiring HIV infection, ages 18 to 65.

Avac Event

New Frontiers in HIV Prevention, Treatment and Cure: An advocate’s webinar on passive immunization

This webinar focused on “passive immunization”—a scientific term for an expanding area of research that’s highly relevant to treatment, prevention and cure work. There are trials in humans happening in many regions of the world—and data are beginning to come in that advocates need to understand, analyze and consider.

The webinar featured Dr. Sarah Schlesinger (Rockefeller University) who provided an overview of recent developments across the field including new published data.

Dr. Schlesinger’s slides are below as well slides presented by AVAC’s Executive Director, Mitchell Warren, with passive immunization information featured in an issue of Px Wire.

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PrEP Summit: A Skills Building Conference for Frontline Workers

Registration for the PrEP Summit: A Skills Building Conference for Frontline Workers is free and is open to all frontline workers in the New York City metro area. Join us on Wednesday, May 27th from 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM to learn from leading experts about how to increase your skills in integrating PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) and PEP (Post Exposure Prophylaxis) into your services. Breakfast and lunch will be provided for all registered participants. A certificate of attendance will be given at the end of the summit.

The goal of the PrEP Summit: A Skills Building Conference for Frontline Workers was to increase PrEP and PEP awareness and knowledge among frontline HIV prevention workers who serve high-risk populations such as MSM (including young MSM), transgender women, Black and Latino men and women in New York City. PrEP and PEP, in combination with interactive client-centered counseling, can be highly effective tools for HIV prevention. Attendees of the summit increased their understanding of PrEP and PEP use and current research and learned to implement methods to integrate PrEP and PEP information into existing HIV testing and outreach programs.

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PrEP for Trans Women: What are the Opportunities and Challenges?

The Network for Multidisciplinary Studies on ARV-Based HIV Prevention (NEMUS) hosted a webinar on PrEP for Transwomen: what are the opportunities and challenges led by JoAnne Keatley and Dr. Madeline Deutsch.

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Transgender Women and PrEP: What’s the latest?

The US Women and PrEP Working Group and partners had a first-hand look at PrEP and transgender women — through the eyes of women prescribing it, using it, choosing not to use it, advocates calling for more research on it and policy-makers charged with integrating it into the national HIV response.

You can click here to view the video.

Slides are also available here.

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EATG Webinar 2: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

This series of three webinars, hosted jointly by EATG and AVAC, is designed to prepare and update EATG members for a special meeting on new developments in prevention on 23-25th January 2015 in Brussels. The second webinar covered pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The third webinar covered vaccines and microbicides on the 12th December.