Embargoed news from Annals of Internal Medicine

In an article published today in Annals of
Internal Medicine, the flagship journal of the American College of
Physicians (ACP), Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Dr. Carl W. Dieffenbach
Director of NIAID’s Division of AIDS, outline the critical elements
needed to control - and ultimately end - the HIV and AIDS pandemic. ACP
will make available links to this article and other HIV and AIDS
resources and information at
http://www.acponline.org/pressroom/acp_hiv_resources.htm on May 31.

Since it was first discovered 30 years ago, HIV has claimed more than
30 million lives. Today, more than 33 million people worldwide are
living with HIV and AIDS. While medical advances have slowed the spread
of the disease and lengthened life expectancies to almost normal, the
authors of the article say there are still significant challenges ahead
for researchers and health care professionals.

According to Drs, Fauci and Dieffenbach, future AIDS initiatives should
concentrate on three essential research and implementation goals. First,
research should focus on the implementation of proven HIV treatment
tools such as antiretroviral therapy (ART). While very successful at
prolonging health and longevity in HIV patients, ART must be currently
be administered daily for life. This presents a management challenge for
the health care system, as well as access and adherence issues for
patients, especially those who are poor or live in developing countries.

Second, researchers should continue to focus efforts on finding a cure
for AIDS that would free patients from having to undergo lifelong
treatment with ART. The authors think future research should focus on
both the development of approaches that would totally eradicate the
virus as well as those that would result in a “functional cure” that
permanently suppresses the virus without replication or lifelong ART.

Third, researchers must find a way to develop new, potent biomedical
prevention therapies that can work with available prevention strategies.
Drugs and drug delivery approaches that stop the spread of the virus, as
well as a vaccine, need to be developed.

“By pursuing an aggressive scientific research agenda to develop the
necessary interventions, we can achieve our shared, long-term goal of
ultimately ending the HIV and AIDS epidemic,” wrote Drs. Fauci and
Deiffenbauch.

Provided by American College of Physicians