Research, treatment, and prevention developments for HIV in 2022

Research, treatment, and prevention developments for HIV in 2022

 BY, SNEHA MAVIS - HEAD CONTENT WRITER, MEDODRIX

The year 2022 will be remembered for its significance in HIV medicine and research. Advances have ranged from modest progress on the long and winding road to a cure to newly approved measures of HIV prevention pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

 

Moving closer to cure:

 

The past year has seen a number of encouraging headlines involving people whose HIV has been put into remission as a result of cancer stem cell therapy.

 

"Cure research is always intriguing, and there were some advances in 2022”. According to Shapiro, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard, "we learned about two more patients who were treated with stem cell transplants and another who experienced immunotherapy-induced remission. So far, a precise scientific intervention has treated or put into remission roughly 5 people. Despite the tiny numbers, each example increases our belief in the potential of these research areas”.

 

The introduction of injectable, long-acting antiretroviral therapies:

 

Chan, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Brown University, stated that long-acting injectable antiretroviral treatments for HIV are at the top of his list of 2022 innovations. He gave the injectable drug lenacapavir as an example.

 

Lenacapavir can be administered every six months and is successful in both persons starting antiretroviral drugs for the first time and those who have previously been treated and have a resistant virus.

 

Chan also mentioned the injectable Cabenuva (cabotegravir and rilpivirine), which is now FDA-approved for use as a once-monthly injection to treat HIV. In December 2021, cabotegravir alone—as two injections spaced a month apart—was authorized for preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for the prevention of HIV.

 

These long-acting drugs, according to Shapiro, "provide a lot of promise" for ensuring prescription compliance, which will ultimately lead to better health outcomes. Many people find that getting a routine injection is simpler than keeping track of their daily pill regimen.

 

New developments in post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP):

 

Preventing other STIs will likely minimize the risk of contracting HIV because having another STI (such as syphilis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia) considerably increases HIV risk. The randomized open-label clinical experiment (DoxyPEP) recently terminated early in 2022 after the data safety monitoring board discovered that oral doxycycline hyclate 200mg self-administered within 72 hours after condomless intercourse dramatically reduced other STIs such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia.

 

In 2022, efforts to develop a vaccine have shown conflicting results:

 

According to Shapiro, the news regarding the creation of an HIV vaccine has been inconsistent.

 

A few novel constructions, such as mRNA technology akin to the COVID-19 vaccines, make people more optimistic that we may develop smarter vaccines that generate widely neutralizing antibodies, he added. "There was another significant trial from South Africa that failed to show efficacy," he said. The first mRNA vaccination trials began in 2022.

 

The emergence of bNAbs:

 

bNAbs, also known as broadly neutralizing antibodies, are antibodies made in a lab to treat or prevent HIV. With vaccines, we hope to help our immune systems develop them, but at the moment, we can only produce them outside. These antibodies are improving year after year, and in 2022, we learned about two potent antibodies that can maintain viral suppression in selected patients without the requirement for regular antiretroviral medication.