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:

Avac Event

Follow the Money: Knowns and unknowns when it comes to cash transfers and financial incentives to improve health in people living with and/or at risk of HIV

This webinar featured Wafaa El-Sadr, principal investigator of HPTN 065, which evaluated the use of cash incentives in improving outcomes for people living with HIV in the United States.

These were useful talks from CROI and excerpts from AVAC Report 2014/15 as preparation for our webinar:

Avac Event

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:

Avac Event

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

IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention 2015

Conference Blog Series

Several members of the AVAC team attended the meeting of the International AIDS Society in Vancouver which just completed. Along the way we presented our “take” on key conference events.

We invite you to learn more about:

Also, the Executive Director of AVAC, Mitchell Warren, spoke for this video about the HIV prevention research presented at IAS 2015.

Conference Interviews

Watch Access HIV’s one-on-one interviews with key researchers and advocates from IAS 2015 here.

Tweets about IAS 2015


Avac Event

International AIDS Conference 2016

This year the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016), a biennial gathering for those working in the field of HIV, including policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the epidemic, is being held in Durban, South Africa.

Dispatches from Durban

AVAC posted live updates from Durban on Twitter and Facebook. We also offer more in-depth daily updates. See below, or join our Advocates’ Network and receive timely email updates from the field.

Daily Updates

AVAC Staffer Micheal Ighodaro’s Plenary Speech

“The people who talk about leaving no one behind ask people like me to be polite, to stay calm, to grieve quietly, while my brothers and sisters are dying or imprisoned. Our bodies are seen as an abomination or deserving of HIV—and you still want to know the source of my rage. I cannot decorate this pain for you, I cannot make a beautiful homage, and I cannot invoke hope and prayers. I cannot smile. I need to see action now, today…”

Micheal Ighodaro, Plenary Speech, July 20, International AIDS Conference 2016. Watch.

Prevention at AIDS2016

Research Literacy Networking Zone

AVAC, in partnership with IRMA, NHVMAS, TAG, WACI Health and WRHI, is excited to host the first-ever Research Literacy Networking Zone (Booth 606 in the Global Village) at AIDS 2016. The RLNZ brings together conference delegates and local community members to network and discuss ongoing and planned HIV prevention, cure research and the rollout of new interventions. Click here for all the details!

AIDS 2016 Roadmap

AVAC prepared a full roadmap highlighting sessions throughout the conference—available as a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet, sortable by prevention option and more.

#AIDS2016

Check out the conference on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The Programme-at-a-Glance identifies sessions focused on specific issues such as cure, vaccines, key populations and more.

Go to FHI 360, at Crowd 360, for the official source of live coverage of AIDS 2016 on social media. News reports and scientific analysis are available from NAM and Clinical Care Options.

AVAC @ AIDS 2016

For a full accounting of what AVAC is up to in Durban (pre-conference activities, satellite sessions, abstracts, workshops, etc.), download this PDF.

Satellite Sessions

Monday, July 18

Avac Event

2015 Update on the Rectal Microbicide Pipeline: New Agents, New Formulations

The field has spent several intense years studying tenofovir gel as a rectal microbicide, and we all look forward to the results (due early 2016) of the world’s first Phase II rectal microbicide trial MTN 017 which tested a reduced glycerin formulation of tenofovir gel.

But there is a lot more going on than tenofovir gel!

In this webinar, hosted by IRMA and AVAC, we looked at new rectal agents in development, including the antiretroviral drug Dapivirine and Griffithsin, a potent, anti-HIV protein derived from red algae. We also discussed plans for developing new microbicide formulations like rectal douches.

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.

Avac Event

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.

Avac Event

GHTC Product, Research and Development Webinar

To achieve the ambitious goal of health and well-being for all, the world needs better and more accessible medicines and health technologies. However, incentivizing R&D for new tools to combat diseases primarily impacting the world’s poorest and ensuring these tools can be made available at affordable prices remains a persistent challenge for the global community.

How best to tackle this challenge and increase the development of and access to affordable, practical technologies for diseases impacting low- and middle-income nations is a hotly debated issue among global health advocates and economists. The World Health Organization is expected to revisit these issues at the 2016 World Health Assembly as member states consider proposals which could include the introduction of new mechanisms for funding R&D and approaches to technology transfer, patents, and licensing.

GHTC and COHRED discussed in a webinar approaches to achieving access to new products, and how those approaches can impact the R&D process. The discussion included multiple perspectives on the topic and a Q&A with the panelists..