HIVR4P 2018

aidsmap news from HIVR4P 2018

• How did Kenya build Africa’s largest PrEP programme?

  PrEP programmes and uptake
  Roger Pebody | 25 January 2019

  Around 25,000 people are taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Kenya, making it Africa’s largest PrEP programme, ahead of South Africa (9000 people), Uganda (4000) and Zimbabwe (4000). The roll-out was recently described ...

• 'Alarmingly high' HIV incidence among MSM and transgender women in sub-Saharan Africa

  Men who have sex with men (MSM)
  Michael Carter | 19 November 2018

  HIV incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women in sub-Saharan Africa is “alarmingly high,” according to research presented to the recent HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P) in ...

• Removable PrEP implant produces high drug levels in rabbits; further studies planned

  PrEP science
  Gus Cairns | 15 November 2018

  A small removable plastic implant resembling a tiny piece of dry spaghetti is capable of delivering sustained levels of the drug tenofovir, researchers told last month’s HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P ...

• Transgender women taking PrEP have lower levels of PrEP drugs, especially in rectal tissues, than cisgender men

  Transgender people
  Gus Cairns | 09 November 2018

  A study presented at last month’s HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P) in Madrid shows that transgender women who are taking feminising hormones and also taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have levels of ...

• Reaching the men: who are the partners of the young women with HIV in South Africa?

  Heterosexual men
  Gus Cairns | 05 November 2018

  In the high-prevalence countries of southern Africa, young women under 25 bear the brunt of the epidemic, with continued high rates of HIV infection. So much so, that epidemiologists at ...

• Going local – prevention conference hears about rings, douches, and soluble suppositories

  Microbicides
  Gus Cairns | 31 October 2018

  Last week’s HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P 2018) in Madrid heard a lot about oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP): not only its efficacy but also that poor retention and adherence ...

• Beyond Truvada – what is the future of PrEP?

  PrEP science
  Roger Pebody | 31 October 2018

  Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) based on tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine (Truvada) has set a high bar for prevention effectiveness, but a range of alternative PrEP products are in development, Raphael Landovitz of the ...

• Substantial gaps in PrEP care continuum for trans women in San Francisco

  Transgender people
  Roger Pebody | 30 October 2018

  Only a third of trans women in San Francisco have talked to a healthcare provider about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and just 12% are taking it, Albert Liu of the San Francisco Department ...

• Boston HIV clinic sees 90% reduction in infections in people being prescribed PrEP

  PrEP science
  Gus Cairns | 30 October 2018

  The Fenway clinic in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the first to institute a large pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) programme in the USA, has seen a reduction in HIV incidence of 90% ...

• PrEP providers and communicators should stop talking about ‘risk’

  PrEP programmes and uptake
  Roger Pebody | 29 October 2018

  It’s unhelpful to frame the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in terms of ‘risky behaviour’, Sarit Golub, professor of psychology at the City University of New York told the HIV Research for ...

• First large HIV prevention trial using antibodies will probably not be the last

  New and experimental HIV treatments
  Gus Cairns | 29 October 2018

  The HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P 2018) in Madrid last week was dominated by studies of one type of molecule – broadly neutralising antibodies (bNAbs). These complex molecules, which ...

• The Miami monkey cured with two antibodies

  The search for a cure
  Gus Cairns | 26 October 2018

  A ‘functional cure’ of HIV has been achieved in one monkey given gene therapy that induced it to make two broadly neutralising antibodies against the virus. Researcher José Martinez-Navio of the ...

• Vaginal rings, films, inserts or gels – it’s all about choice

  Microbicides
  Roger Pebody | 26 October 2018

  There is no single HIV prevention technology which suits everyone – young African women who have tried four different vaginal products make different choices, with no one product being much more popular ...

• The long tail of injectable PrEP is especially long for women

  PrEP science
  Roger Pebody | 25 October 2018

  Around four in ten women and one in ten men taking injectable cabotegravir as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) still have evidence of the drug in their body around 18 months after their last ...

• Far more people may be using PrEP than we know, HIV prevention conference hears

  PrEP programmes and uptake
  Gus Cairns | 24 October 2018

  Many more gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM) may be using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) than figures from demonstration projects and national rollouts suggest, Michelle Rodolph, technical ...

• 380,000 people on PrEP globally, mostly in the USA and Africa [updated]

  PrEP programmes and uptake
  Roger Pebody | 23 October 2018

  At least 381,580 people have started to take pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 68 countries, but 59% of PrEP users are in North America, according to a global analysis conducted by AVAC and ...