We have HIV management drugs. So why do we spend millions looking for medicine?

Over the past three decades, there has been amazing progress in the treatment and prevention of HIV.

This is now possible to master the infection. A person with HIV who consistently takes HIV drugs before the immune system falls, may expect that he almost lives As long as someone without HIV.

The same medications prevent transmission virus for sexual partners.

It is still No effective HIV vaccine. However, there are highly effective drugs to prevent HIV infection in people without HIV who are more exposed to its acquisition.

These drugs are known as “prevention before exposure” or Prep. They are as a pill that should be taken every day or “upon request“Before and after risky sex. Injection It protects against HIV for six months, it has recently been approved In the United States.

So with such effective HIV treatment and preparation, why we are still Spending millions Are you looking for medicines for HIV?

Not everyone has access to these drugs

Access to medication and preparation of HIV depends on the availability of health clinics, healthcare professionals and drugs for the supply and distribution of drugs. In some countries, this infrastructure may not be sheltered.

For example, at the beginning of this year, the dissolution of US President Donald Trump USAID foreign help program He threatened to provide HIV drugs to many low -income countries.

This shows the fragility of current approaches to treatment and prevention. Secure, uninterrupted delivery of HIV medicine is required and without this life will be lost and the number of numbers New HIV cases will escalate.

Another example is a six -month prep injection approved in the USA. This drug has great potential to control HIV if it is available and inexpensive in countries with the highest HIV load.

But the perspective of lower countries that gain access to this exorbitant drug looks insecure, even if it can be done for a fraction of his current cost, As some researchers say.

Thus, despite the success of HIV drugs and preparations, uncertain healthcare systems and high drug costs mean that we cannot rely on them to put an end to the ongoing global HIV pandemic. That is why we still have to look at other options.

Were people no longer “cured”?

All over the world, at least seven people They were “cured” of HIV at least he had long-term constant remission. This means that after stopping medication for HIV for months or years, they had no HIV replication in their blood.

In each case, a person with HIV also had life -threatening cancer that requires bone marrow transplantation. Each of them was tailored to the donor, which had a specific genetic variability, which caused the lack of HIV receptors in key bone marrow cells.

After the bone marrow transplant, the recipients stopped HIV, without detectable levels of the return of the virus. Modern immune cells made in a transplanted bone marrow lacked HIV receptors. This stopped the virus from infecting cells and replication.

But this genetic variability is very rare. Bone marrow transplantation is also risky and extremely demanding resources. So, although this strategy worked for several people, this is not a scalable prospect of wider HIV treatment.

So we have to look for other medicine options, including basic laboratory tests to get us there.

How about the “breakthrough” I heard about?

HIV treatment stops HIV replication, which causes immune damage. But in the body there are places where the virus “hides” and drugs cannot reach. If the drugs are stopped, “latent” HIV comes out of hiding and repeats again. This can damage the immune system, leading to HIV disease.

One of the approaches is an attempt to force hidden or hidden HIV to the open part so that drugs can direct it. This is a strategy called “shock and murder”. And the example of such Australian research has recently been reported in the media as “breach“In search of a cure for HIV.

Scientists in Melbourne have developed a lipid nanopartite – a petite ball of fat – which surrounds RNA Messenger (or MRNA) and provides “message” infected with white blood cells. This prompts the cells to disclose “Hiding” HIV.

Theoretically, this will allow immune system or HIV drugs to focus on the virus.

This discovery is an vital step. However, it is still in the laboratory testing phase and is only one piece of the puzzle.

We could say the same about many other results heralded as moving Closer to the medicine for HIV.

Further research on safety and effectiveness before examining in clinical trials is needed. Such attempts start with petite numbers, and the trial process lasts many years. This and other steps towards medicine are leisurely and exorbitant, but necessary.

Importantly, every medicine would eventually have to be quite low to provide it to be feasible and accessible low -income countries around the world.

So where does it leave us?

AND HIV cure This is inexpensive and scalable, it would have a deep impact on human heather around the world, Especially for people living with HIV. To get there, there is a long and tedious path that includes a solution to a number of scientific puzzles, and then a solution to the challenges related to implementation.

In the meantime, ensuring that people at risk of HIV have access to test and preventive interventions – such as preparation and sheltered injection of equipment – remains crucial. People living with HIV also need constant access to effective treatment – regardless of where they live.