HIV treatment has advanced dramatically since the 1980s. Most people now take a single daily pill that keeps the virus undetectable, meaning they live normal lifespans and cannot transmit HIV sexually. The main research goals today are achieving remission without daily medication, preventing HIV in the first place, and addressing long-term health effects of living with the virus.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing long-acting injections given every few months instead of daily pills, broadly neutralizing antibodies that might suppress HIV for months at a time, and gene therapies aimed at engineering immune cells to resist or eliminate the virus. Prevention research includes longer-acting PrEP options and vaccines. Researchers are also studying treatments for the inflammation and early aging that can persist even when HIV is well controlled.
Long-acting treatments
Cabotegravir and rilpivirine are FDA-approved as monthly or every-two-month injections. Trials are now testing injections given twice yearly, which could eliminate the need for daily pills entirely.
Broadly neutralizing antibodies
These lab-made antibodies attack multiple strains of HIV and may suppress the virus for months with a single infusion. Some trials combine antibodies with drugs that pull latent HIV out of hiding.
Gene therapy approaches
Researchers are engineering immune cells to resist HIV or to hunt down infected cells. Early results show some people can control HIV for months without medication after a single infusion of modified cells.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on current viral load, CD4 count, resistance to prior medications, and willingness to use effective contraception during some trials.
What types of trials are currently open
- Long-acting treatment trials — Testing injectable medications given monthly, every two months, or twice yearly instead of daily pills.
- Antibody trials — Testing broadly neutralizing antibodies given by infusion to suppress HIV for extended periods.
- Cure-focused trials — Testing strategies to eliminate the virus or control it without ongoing medication, including gene therapy and immune-based approaches.
- Prevention trials — Testing long-acting PrEP injections, vaccines, and antibodies to prevent HIV infection in people at risk.
- Complication trials — Testing treatments for inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive effects that can occur even when HIV is well controlled.
Recently added HIV trials
The Gender Inclusive Sexuality Talks Program
The study is centered on helping parents answer and meet the sexuality-specific questions and needs of transgender, gender diverse, lesbian or bisexual female youth. This study seeks to test the efficacy of the GIST Program as a parent-child sexuality communication intervention that educates and trains parents to be purveyors of inclusive health information as transgender, gender diverse, lesbian or bisexual female youth come of age at home.
Project SHIELD 2.0: Police Education to Support Public Health in Kentucky
The project is a pragmatic, quasi-experimental hybrid type II effectiveness-implementation trial of a structural HIV prevention intervention to address police behavior (arrests and referrals) and ultimately improve health among people who use drugs. The study involves a novel implementation strategy that engages behavioral health workers as "local champions" in the delivery of an evidence-based police education program (SHIELD training intervention). In addition to examining implementation outcomes, primary outcomes focus on assessing effectiveness of the intervention among police (specifically in reducing drug-related arrests and promoting referrals to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) treatment. The investigator's overarching effectiveness hypothesis is that after law enforcement organizations receive the SHIELD training intervention, the organizations will be more likely to refer people who use drugs to MOUD treatment and other health and social services, rather than arresting for low level possession offenses. The study will be conducted across different counties in Appalachian Kentucky.
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