HIV & AIDS

/ /

FDA approves breakthrough drug that reduces risk of contracting HIV by 96 percent

,

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a breakthrough medication that reduces the risk of contracting HIV by 96 percent. Gilead’s Yeztugo, generic name lenacapavir (LEN), has been approved for prevention after highly successful trials in September found that it nearly eliminated the spread of the virus among patients, showing a 96 percent relative risk reduction versus bHIV. The drug had already been approved for treatment of multidrug-resistant HIV. The drug is meant to be given as an injection by health care workers in clinics every six months. It is currently priced at $14,109 per injection, or $2,352 per month, according to NBC News, making it unclear […]

/ /

‘New pathway’ to cure for HIV discovered using tech from COVID-19 vaccine

,

Researchers have taken a giant leap in the search for an HIV cure by discovering a way to identify the virus even as it is camouflaged among other cells. HIV spreads by invading and multiplying within white blood cells, which fight disease and infection. One of the main roadblocks in developing a cure has been finding a way to isolate and kill the virus without also killing white blood cells and harming the body’s immune system.  Researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, Australia have now cultivated a method to identify the virus among white blood cells, as demonstrated in a […]

/ /

President ends major HIV vaccine research program, setting progress back a decade

,

The current presidential administration has ended funding for the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD), a move that researchers say will likely set efforts to end HIV globally back by a decade.   The two teams leading the $258 million vaccine program at Duke University and the Scripps Research Institute were informed of the move on Friday, May 30, by officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The New York Times and CBS News reported. A senior NIH official told the Times that the agency’s leadership had reviewed the program and “does not support it moving forward.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has also […]

/ / /

President’s 2026 budget proposal could have harsh effects on LGBTQ+ people

,

The White House’s recently released 2026 budget proposal, sent to Congress last Friday, includes steep cuts to healthcare programs within the CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These programs include research into LGBTQ+ communities and HIV prevention initiatives. The 40-page document was sent out by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to be reviewed by Congress. The president has vowed to reduce wasteful government spending and waste during his second term. Despite this, his proposed budget appears to relinquish funding from public health programs that help citizens, while also increasing our nation’s military budget by 13% (which many argue […]

/ /

AP: Supreme Court Likely To Uphold PrEP Coverage

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold a key preventive-care provision of the Affordable Care Act in a case heard Monday. Conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, along with the court’s three liberals, appeared skeptical of arguments that Obamacare’s process for deciding which services must be fully covered by private insurance is unconstitutional. The case came before the Supreme Court after the appeals court struck down some preventive care coverage requirements. It sided with Christian employers and Texas residents who argued they can’t be forced to provide full insurance coverage for things like medication to […]

/ /

What to know about the Supreme Court case that could take away your access to PrEP and other care

,

Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, a case which The Advocatefirst broke news of in 2022, that could dismantle one of the most widely used and life-saving provisions of the Affordable Care Act: the guarantee that insurers must cover preventive services—like HIV prevention medication, cancer screenings, and maternal health care—at no cost to patients. While the case began as a religious objection to PrEP coverage by a group of conservative Christian business owners in Texas, it’s evolved into a full-blown challenge to the ACA’s preventive care mandate. A ruling against the government could jeopardize no-cost access to cancer screenings, STI testing, contraception, diabetes care, […]

/ /

Trump quietly purges presidential HIV advisory council, sparking public health fears

,

HIV advocates and public health experts are raising alarms after the Trumpadministration moved to remove all members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS — a group that for three decades has provided critical guidance on federal HIV prevention, treatment, and care policy. The decision, first reported by Reuters, comes amid sweeping cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including layoffs of 10,000 federal health employees and the closure of half of HHS’s regional offices. The Trump administration eliminated several offices within HHS dedicated to infectious disease prevention, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has […]

/ /

RFK Jr’s ‘dangerous’ health layoffs could undo years of HIV prevention research, experts warn

,

Mass layoffs across the US Department of Health (HHS) could have “dangerous” effects on the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), not-for-profit groups have warned. More than 10,000 HHS positions have reportedly disappeared since Robert F Kennedy Jr, better-known as RFK Jr, became secretary of health. Among them are positions in the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/Aids Policy, as well as at the world-famous Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other key areas affected include jobs in STI and HIV response teams, the dismantling of the PrEP Implementation Branch, and cutbacks on HIV awareness campaigns. RFK […]

/ / /

Now is a uniquely terrible time to cut funding for HIV

Rebecca Denison expected to have a short life. She’d acquired HIV as a college student in the 1980s, she told the audience at an infectious disease conference in San Francisco earlier this month, and got an official diagnosis in 1990. “Back then,” she said matter-of-factly, “It was understood we were all going to die.” Within six years, that all changed. A new generation of drugs called protease inhibitors, when combined with other drugs, made the virus virtually undetectable in people with HIV, giving them a much greater chance of living to old age. “Your work saved my life,” Denison, now an advocate for HIV-positive women, […]

/ /

Trump admin moves to end federal HIV prevention programs. ‘Catastrophic’ consequences, experts say

,

The Trump administration is preparing to eliminate all federal funding for domestic HIV prevention programs, a move that health experts say will undo decades of progress in combating the epidemic. The decision, which could be announced within the next 48 hours, would shut down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV prevention division and halt all federally funded prevention efforts, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the development, citing sources within the Department of Health and Human Services who say the move is part of a broader restructuring effort targeting federal public health […]

«‹ 3 4 5 6›»