The annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) took place virtually from March 6-10, 2021. The goal of the conference was to provide a forum for researchers to translate their laboratory and clinical findings into tangible progress against the HIV pandemic.

Following Along

• Conference coverage was available via aidsmap, AVAC on Twitter: @hivpxresearch and the conference hashtag: #CROI2021.
• Watch the vCROI2021 Martin Delaney Presentation, with Jim Pickett of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago introducing Gregg Gonsalves of Yale University and Fatima Hassan of the Health Justice Initiative.

AVAC’s CROI Roundup

Read “The Personal is Planetary: CROI and COVID one year on”.

Daily Research Updates (Margarita/Breakfast Club)

CROI’s Community Liaison Subcommittee (CLS), in collaboration with a range of global partners, organized Daily Community Research Updates, held each day before official CROI conference sessions started. These updates provided an intimate setting for attendees joining from different time-zones (breakfast or margarita time), in which advocates had the opportunity to ask questions directly to researchers and engage in dialogue. The focus for each day varied, but the schedule was designed to cover key HIV research topics with special attention to any major developments presented at CROI.

Vaccine Nationalism is Killing Us: How Inequities in Research and Access to SARS-CoV-2 Will Perpetuate the Pandemic

Speaker: Gregg Gonsalves (US)
Moderator: Jim Pickett (AIDS Foundation Chicago)
Date: Sunday March 7
View the recording.

HIV Cure Update – Community Workshop Readout

Speakers: Richard Jefferys (TAG, US) and Katie Bar (Penn Univ)
Moderators: Alain Volny-Anne (EATG), Danielle Campbell (ACTG)
Date: Monday March 8
View the recording.

HIV-1 bNAbs: Looking Ahead

Speaker: Marina Fernandes de Barros Caskey (Rockefeller Univ and Sergipe Univ), Discussion – Plenary Speaker
Moderators: Ntando Yola (APHA) and Stacey Hannah (AVAC)
Date: Tuesday March 9
View the recording.

Long-Acting Agents for Prevention: Islatravir Year-Long Implant and HPTN 083 Infections Data for CAB

Speakers: Randolph Matthews (MSD), Raphael Landovitz (HPTN) and Linda-Gail Bekker (Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation)
Moderator: Deirdre Grant (AVAC) and Joyce Ng’ang’a (WACI Health)
Date: Wednesday March 10, 8:30 AM Eastern – 9:45 AM Eastern
View the recording.

CROI 2021 Conference Materials

View the conference agenda and the schedule-at-a-glance.

In response to community requests, full and free access to all Virtual CROI 2021 session recordings will be provided via the CROI website on April 15, 2021. The conference abstracts and the opening Martin Delaney Presentation have been available since the conference week and remain available at croiconference.org. For full details on this policy shift, read more.

The fifth annual Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit will be held March 30-31, 2021 as a virtual conference. The format and focus is similar to the in-person Summit convened in years past. It involves highlighting the role that biomedical prevention tools such as PrEP, PEP, Treatment as Prevention (TasP), and U=U have in ending the epidemic. The goal of the conference is to bring the leaders from the various target communities together with the staff responsible for Ending the HIV Epidemic program implementation. The Summit will feature two days filled with over 40 workshop sessions, four plenary sessions, several community corners, an exhibit hall as well as on-line networking opportunities via virtual lounges.

IAS 2021 was a virtual event running from July 18 to July 21. AVAC tracked the landscape of prevention research to explain, frame, connect and contextualize what’s new, what’s next and what it all means for advocacy.

Below we gathered some resources and highlights.

Resources

• AVAC’s Roadmap tracked sessions where prevention was in the spotlight. You can download it as a sortable spreadsheet or pdf.

• AVAC’s Research Literacy Zone took the conversation deeper with advocates and researchers exploring timely topics including: updates on rolling out the Dapivirine Vaginal Ring, updates on recent results and new trials, advances in vaccine and cure research and new approaches to understanding social factors that impact health. See the full schedule here.

• In real time, AVAC offered comments and updates on Twitter @HIVpxresearch, and our friends at NAM/AIDSMAP reported throughout the conference. You could also follow the conversation using the conference hashtag, #IAS2021.

Satellites, sessions and panels featuring AVAC and partners

Sunday, July 18

Symposium—Pivoting HIV prevention during a parallel pandemic
Ch. 4 14:00-14:50 CEST / 8:00-8:50 EDT
This session explored how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted HIV prevention services and some of the positive changes to how services are managed. Co-moderated by AVAC’s Micheal Ighodaro and Loice OMBAJO, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Monday, July 19

Satellite—Paving the road for new PrEP products: The promise of differentiated, simplified, and decentralized delivery to maximize the potential of emerging PrEP products

Ch. 2 08:30-09:30 CEST / 2:30am-3:30 EDT
Though the world missed the 2020 UNAIDS targets for the uptake of PrEP, there have been gains. PrEP uptake has increased over 100 percent since 2019, largely due to efforts to innovate and adapt PrEP delivery. Instead of clinic-centered models, mobile, pharmacy, and virtual approaches are supporting the effective use of PrEP. The next generation of PrEP, including long-acting injectables, antiretroviral-containing vaginal rings, and the dual prevention pill, must learn from these experiences. Implementers, advocates and researchers discuss these models and others to scale up all forms of PrEP to reach those who need it. Chaired by AVAC’s Jessica Rodrigues, Anna Grimsrud of the International AIDS Society, Davina Canagasabey and Kim Green of PATH.

Symposium—What is missing in the HIV response? Strengthening HIV programmes for trans populations in the Global South (CME)
Ch. 3 11:00-11:50 CEST / 5:00-5:50 EDT
A recent systemic review of health studies among trans populations revealed a dearth of information on health outcomes outside of North and South America. What’s more, little of such research is underway in the Pacific or Asia (Reisner et al., 2015). Without this information how can HIV programmes effectively design interventions, develop indicators and plan for monitoring and evaluation. This session featured a dialogue among academics, HIV service providers and trans community members on where research must expand and to engage the trans community in the development of this research agenda.

Symposium—Build it: But will they come? Prevention efficacy versus population effectiveness
Ch. 3 14:00-15:50 CEST / 8:00-9:50 EDT
Community uptake is crucial for the success of prevention interventions. This session included a discussion how the field can better prepare for the delivery of effective prevention interventions and how communities can contribute to ensuring their success. Co-moderated by AVAC’s Manju Chatani-Gada and Moses R. Kamya of Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Satellite—Bringing the Dual Prevention Pill to Market: Opportunities for HIV and Pregnancy Prevention and Implications for Future Multipurpose Prevention Technologies
Ch. 1 21:00-22:30 CEST / 15:00-16:30 EDT
The Dual Prevention Pill (DPP), a tablet containing oral PrEP and combined oral contraceptive, is likely to be the first MPT with PrEP to go to market. This combination, preventing both pregnancy and HIV, may transform challenges related to stigma that women face taking PrEP alone. Using the DPP as a case study, this session highlighted practical considerations for future MPTs such as: What are best practices with end users and providers? How do different financing sources for family planning and HIV shape next steps? What approaches can be used to estimate impact? Download the flyer.

Tuesday July 20th

Satellite—An HIV vaccine: who needs it?
Ch. 3 19:00-20:30 CEST / 13:00-14:30 EDT
The response to the HIV epidemic, now in its fourth decade, has marked tremendous progress in developing effective treatments and prevention options, but the challenge of developing a safe and effective HIV vaccine persists, raising important questions about where an HIV vaccine should fit in our global efforts to end the epidemic. Co-sponsored by the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise at IAS and UNAIDS, this satellite reaffirms the case for an HIV vaccine against a background of effective but not yet broadly accessible or acceptable prevention. The panel discussion, including AVAC’s Daisy Ouya and others, explored critical questions that will come when an HIV vaccine is discovered, such as who should be immunized, what will be the benefits, the costs, and who will pay?

To mark the launch of Essential Principles & Practices for GPP Compliance: Engaging stakeholders in biomedical research during the era of COVID-19, AVAC hosted a webinar on April 1st. Bartholomew Wilson from the Partnership for Research on Vaccines and Infectious Diseases in Liberia discussed his publication in Nature Medicine on GPP in pandemic research. This was followed by a panel discussion with Danielle Campbell (UCLA) and Miliswa Magongo (Wits RHI) highlighting diverse perspectives on the importance of GPP within COVID-research and beyond.

Watch the recording.