THURSDAY, July 19, 2012 will go down in history as a red-letter day in the fight against HIV/AIDS with the launch of a veritable roadmap towards finding a cure for the disease ahead of the XIX International AIDS Conference. Called a ‘Global Scientific Strategy Towards an HIV Cure’, the proposed seven-point plan was published Online on July 20 in the August issue of Nature Reviews Immunology.
The International AIDS Society (IAS) had convened a group of 34 leading HIV scientists and clinicians, headed by  Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, the co-discoverer of HIV, Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, and the IAS President-elect; and Professor Steven Deeks, Professor of Medicine at the University of California, to develop the Global Scientific Strategy.
The strategy will serve as a roadmap to move forward research on a cure for HIV. A safe, affordable and scalable cure will improve the health and quality of life for infected persons, reduce the risk of transmission to those not infected, and ultimately allow resources to be shifted to other needs.
“A cure will bring new hope to people living with HIV and their loved ones, and could end the cycle of stigma and discrimination,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS at the launch in Washington, D.C.
Although there are over 20 anti-HIV drugs on the market today, helping to prolong life and reduce viral transmission, they have not succeeded in eradicating the virus, and are expensive to booth and have a number of side effects.
The cost of administering antiretroviral drugs to the almost 34 million people living with HIV has decreased. However, the costs associated with delivering those drugs continue to overwhelm many organizations and public health systems.
Taking into consideration these limitations, research is therefore absolutely necessary to find a cure for the HIV virus, as it would pose both individual and public health benefits. An effective HIV cure is also likely to stop transmission of HIV to uninfected persons, and restore the immunological function and normal health of those infected.
Also, just ahead of the XIX AIDS Conference, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved a drug for the prevention of the HIV virus. The drug, Truvada, is said to have shown in a recent study a reduction in transmission to vulnerable people by 73%. The use of Truvada, however, has been criticized for potentially creating a false sense of security, which could result in people taking more risks.
Nevertheless, the FDA has advised that the drug should be used as part of a “comprehensive HIV prevention plan”, which includes regular condom use and HIV testing.
Michael Barton of UNAIDS said that there was good trial evidence that the drug could significantly cut the risk of the infection being passed on if it is taken consistently.
In most circumstances, however, he believes that it would make more sense to treat the HIV-positive person in a relationship than focus on the HIV-negative partner.
With the launch of the Inaugural Global Scientific Strategy Towards an HIV Cure, and with a number of scientific advances that are helping to shed light on why the HIV virus remains persistent, there is now renewed optimism among scientists that this dreaded disease could eventually be eliminated.