In this episode of Px Pulse, researchers and advocates debate the rationale, risks and ethics of interrupting treatment as part of cure research. This is known as analytic treatment interruption or ATI.
Cure Research and Analytic Treatment Interruption
HIV Vaccine Science, Research, Updates and Advocacy
With HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD) in the spotlight earlier this month, AVAC’s May episode of PxPulse features four experts steeped in HIV vaccine research. Together they help set expectations for where the field is now and where it is going.
From the Trenches, Advocates Share Their Prevention Priorities
In this episode of Px Pulse, our monthly podcast, we bring you two different conversations, each throwing a spotlight on different aspects of HIV prevention advocacy today. You’ll hear how the AVAC Partner Forum brought key issues into focus and how these advocates are sharpening their strategies. Then we turn to a global effort to accelerate prevention.
What’s Next for the Dapivirine Ring
In March, initial results from the two open-label trials of the dapivirine vaginal ring (HOPE and DREAM) showed that adherence and efficacy improved over the earlier Phase III trials. Open-label studies, unlike Phase III studies, do not use a placebo, and all participants know they are using an intervention with evidence of a certain level of HIV protection. The ring is also advancing along the pathway to licensure. If approved, it will be the next major prevention option available since the US FDA approved oral PrEP in 2012.
The dapivirine vaginal ring is made of silicone and inserted in the vagina releases the antiretroviral drug, dapivirine, over the course of a month to protect against HIV.
In this episode of Px Pulse, Zeda Rosenberg of the International Partnerships for Microbicides, which developed the ring, explains the latest findings and spells out how, when, where and if the ring might become an available tool. A trial participant and community leader in Uganda, Ruth*, pulls back the curtain on the ups and downs of using the ring, and a Ugandan investigator with the REACH study, Carolyne Akello of the Makere University-Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration, explains the importance of the this trial, the next step in testing the potential of this monthly vaginal ring for young women.
*Last name withheld for confidentiality.
Three Perspectives, Two Trials and One Big Goal
With more efficacy trials underway today than ever before in HIV prevention research, this episode of Px Pulse zooms in on two that have most recently launched: one of two trials testing a long-acting injectable antiretroviral called cabotegravir (HPTN 084), and the study of a “mosaic” vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals (HVTN 705/HPX2008).
Standard of Care in the Era of PrEP
Every research trial of a new HIV prevention option offers a package of services to protect participants from HIV. This standard of care is essential to the design of an ethical trial.
So what do we do now that oral PrEP has hit the world: It works if you take it; roll out is reaching some places and populations better than others. And people on PrEP often need support to stick with it. All this makes adding Oral PrEP a paramount question for trials. This month’s Px Pulse follows a recent summit in Cape Town South Africa where advocates, researchers and regulators confronted the high stakes of post-PrEP prevention research.
2018 and HIV Prevention: AVAC’s Take
In this episode hear about recently published findings from a study out of Rakai, Uganda confirm that scaling up of a combination of existing interventions, such as voluntary medical male circumcision and antiretroviral therapy provides protection from HIV at the population-level. How do we apply these findings at the global level? How should advocates prepare for results—anticipated in 2019—of the ECHO trial that’s looking at the effect of hormonal contraceptives on HIV risk? And what needs to happen in 2018 to reach long-term global targets for ending the epidemic?
Trial Trial Again: Getting research right for adolescents
Both research and advocacy for HIV prevention are intensifying their focus on young people. Bringing interventions that work for this population holds unique challenges.
In this episode of AVAC’s Px Pulse podcast series, AVAC’s Manju Chatani-Gada explores how and why prevention research must reach the next generation.
Golden Age or Fools Gold?
In this episode of AVAC’s Px Pulse podcast series, Carl Dieffenbach, Director of NIH’s Division of AIDS, tells AVAC where he sees the most promise in the field of HIV prevention and what it will take to “put out the fire.”
PrEP and Trial Design — A no brainer for some
In this episode of AVAC’s Px Pulse podcast series, Slim Abdool Karim, co-principal investigator of the landmark CAPRISA 004 study, talks about why designing trials with oral PrEP is a must—scientifically and ethically.