HIVR4P 2014: Positive Response to Gift Tokens for Undetectable Viral Load Trial

A U.S. study presented at last month’s HIV Research for Prevention conference found generally positive responses among people with HIV and clinic staff to a trial that used $70 gift tokens as an incentive for people to maintain an undetectable viral load. However, the study found that only just under half of patients had an accurate understanding of what viral load was, and that this did not improve during the study.

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HIVR4P 2014: Research for Prevention Conference Opens with Real Hope for HIV Vaccine

"There’s only one Berlin Patient still. But by this time next year he will at least be joined by 40-50 Portland monkeys." These were the words of vaccine researcher Louis Picker, summarizing in quotable form why the outlook for the development of an effective HIV vaccine is brighter than it has been for years, in a satellite session in advance of the HIV Research for Prevention conference (R4P) in Cape Town, South Africa.

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HIVR4P 2014: The Immunity Project -- An Open-Access T-Cell Vaccine for HIV Infection

Microparticles containing conserved HIV epitopes may be able to prime antigen-presenting dendritic cells, which in turn activate antigen-specific CD8 killer T-cells, offering a potential new approach for developing T-cell-based preventive or therapeutic HIV vaccines, researchers with the open-access Immunity Project reported at the HIV Research for Prevention (HIV R4P) conference last week in Cape Town.

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HIVR4P 2014: Injectable Cabotegravir Makes Progress, Doubts About Injectable Rilpivirine

Researchers have determined the dose of an injectable formulation of the integrase inhibitor cabotegravir (formerly GSK1256744) that will be taken into efficacy trials to see if it can be used for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Progress on an injectable formulation of another drug, rilpivirine, received a setback, however, when animal studies showed it lost its efficacy against viral challenge after only 18-21 days, researchers reported at the HIV Research for Prevention meeting this week in Cape Town.

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HIVR4P 2014: Vaginal Rings Show Promise for HIV Prevention

A silicone intravaginal ring that releases the antiretroviral drugs dapivirine and darunavir was shown to reach levels expected to be effective in vaginal and cervical fluid and tissues in monkeys, researchers reported at the HIV Research for Prevention meeting last week in Cape Town. A related study found that a single ring can potentially serve multiple purposes, preventing HIV, genital herpes, HPV, and pregnancy.

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HIVR4P 2014: Tenofovir Gel Associated with Lower Herpes Simplex Risk for Women

The risk of acquiring herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) was reduced by 46% among women who regularly used a vaginal gel containing tenofovir, according to a secondary analysis of the VOICE trial presented at the HIV Research for Prevention conference (R4P) this week in Cape Town. There was no significant difference in the age, marital status, country, practice of anal sex, HIV status, or hormonal contraceptive use between women who acquired HSV-2 and those who did not.

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Coverage of HIV Research for Prevention Conference (HIVR4P 2014)

HIVandHepatitis.com coverage of the HIV Research for Prevention Conference (HIVR4P 2014), October 28-31, in Cape Town.

This conference -- combining the previous HIV Vaccines and Microbicides meetings -- includes all aspects of HIV prevention including experimental vaccines, microbicide gels and rings, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

Full listing of coverage by topic

HIVR4P 2014 website

11/4/14

HIVR4P 2014: Model Suggests More Frequent Truvada PrEP Needed for Vaginal vs Anal Sex

Tenofovir reaches lower levels in vaginal and cervical tissue compared with rectal tissue, helping to explain why pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) did not protect women as much as gay and bisexual men in clinical trials, and suggesting that women having vaginal sex may need to take PrEP more often than people having anal sex, researchers reported at the HIV Research for Prevention meeting this week in Cape Town.

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