Medicine Grand Rounds: The Prevention of HIV: A Big Success in Progress
September 26 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Myron S. Cohen, MD, is the Yeargan-Bate Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Epidemiology. He is Associate Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Global Health Director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases. His multidisciplinary research group has worked over many years to characterize the ability of different classes of antiretroviral agents to block HIV replication in the male genital tract, as represented by copies of HIV RNA detected in seminal plasma. He has also worked to characterize the relationship(s) between HIV in semen and blood, through detailed molecular phylogenetic analysis. Based on these results, he was able to design and lead a multinational NIH clinical trial, HPN 052 that demonstrated that successful antiretroviral treatment of HIV can prevent the sexual transmission of HIV.
In July, at the 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich Germany, PURPOSE 1 study results were shared. The study was conducted among cisgender women in Africa and looked at the ability of a twice a year, subcutaneous injection to prevent HIV, compared with daily oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). The results were spectacular: there were zero infections in the arm that received the injectable medication (a newer drug called “lenacapavir”). PURPOSE 1 was the first time any PrEP study completely eliminated infections, and the results got a standing ovation at the conference. One of the sites that contributed to the study is UNC Project Malawi, in Lilongwe. The Chapel Hill site is about to start enrolling for the PURPOSE 3 study, which is a ‘sister study’ that will test the pharmacokinetics, safety, and acceptability of the twice a year, subcutaneous lenacapavir injection in U.S. cisgender women to prevent HIV.