Last month, over 26,000 scientists, activists and dedicated individuals from 170 countries shared ideas during the week-long 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
With over 4,500 abstracts presented, the topics covered include 85 vaccine trials and
the development of improved antiretroviral medicine for those living with the virus.
There was also the innovation of a microbicide cream that may eventually serve as an important preventative tool for women who have difficulty negotiating condom use. Such a cream could be used prior to heterosexual intercourse and could greatly reduce the rate of infection.
Ultimately, this innovation may have the potential to empower women to prevent infection and slow the spread of the disease.
The sunny optimism of developing microbicides was met by the grim reality that although dozens of potential vaccines are in varying stages of clinical trials, such a discovery will most likely not happen soon.
Dr. Francoise Barr-Sinoussi of the Pasteur Institute said in a conference press statement, “It is still not known whether a vaccine is possible.”
Assistant professor of sociology Martha Lang, who has researched issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, agreed: “I would expect that a vaccine is a couple decades away. . (The virus’s) job is to survive; it can mutate.”
Although a preventative vaccine may not be in the near future, current treatment for those living with the disease continues to advance. In July, two major pharmaceutical companies, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences, announced the release of a new FDA-approved antiretroviral drug called Atripla that is the first of its kind. It was developed as a joint venture between competing companies to combine three HIV treatment drugs into one pill, to be taken daily.
Today’s medications, as said by an HIV-positive individual who asked to remain anonymous, are extremely effective, and when taken daily, can extend the life span of HIV-positive individuals to a nearly typical life span. The problem, he said, is not a lack of effective medicine, but a lack of access to the medication available.
“We don’t know when the vaccine is going to be there,” he added in reference to the hundreds of millions of dollars that have recently been devoted to vaccine development. “If we keep putting money into vaccines, how many lives are going to be lost because people can’t afford their drugs?”
This new drug is a far cry from the drug “cocktails” that were used a decade ago. In the first decade of treatment, the drug AZT first became available and was widely used, despite its severe side effects. One Triad resident, who asked to be identified by first and middle name only, David Alexander, has been living with HIV for over two decades and recalled that “[AZT] was a nightmare; it was basically poison.”
There are 1,900 estimated HIV-positive individuals residing in Guilford County.
Erin Burns, senior and co-president of College AIDS Prevention (CAP), said “There are people in Greensboro that can’t afford HIV drugs,” which, on average, cost between $1,000 and $2,000 per month.
On a world scale, the issue appears dire; in a new estimate released at last month’s International AIDS Conference, only 24 percent of those worldwide in need of life-saving antiretroviral drugs are receiving them.