IAS Conference Highlights: Heart Disease Prevention, U=U Community Messaging, Long-Acting HIV Prevention and Treatment, and more!

From Today on HIV.gov

The IAS Conference on HIV Science (held on July 23 – 26, 2023) is the world’s most influential meeting on HIV research and its applications. This biennial conference presents the critical advances in basic, clinical and operational HIV research that move science into policy and practice. Through its open and inclusive programme, the meeting sets the gold standard of HIV science, featuring highly diverse and cutting-edge research.

Below are notable highlights from this years IAS Conference:

U=U Messaging in the Community – from Harold J. Philips, MRP, Director, White House Office of National AIDS Policy

Last year at the 24th International AIDS ConferenceExit Disclaimer, I was proud to join federal colleagues to reaffirmExit Disclaimer the U.S. government’s commitment to undetectable = untransmittable (U=U) messaging as a powerful messaging tool to support individual and community-level health. U=U is also a critical component of educating the public about HIV and combating HIV stigma and discrimination.

Over the past year, my federal colleagues and I have traveled to several communities, held listening sessions, and presented at countless conferences. I have been so moved to hear how advocates, healthcare providers, and community-based organizations are incorporating U=U into their service delivery models. The efforts below are a handful of examples that show how stakeholders across the country are incorporating U=U into their work.

Click here to read more about Community and Federal Efforts to incorporate U=U messaging

Heart Disease Prevention for People with HIV & Long-Acting HIV Prevention and Treatment

NIH’s Carl Dieffenbach discussedExit Disclaimer findings presented today about the NIH-supported Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV (REPRIEVE) trial, a global study that demonstrated a daily statin medication reduces the increased risk of cardiovascular disease experienced by people living with HIV. (Learn more in this NIH news release published today.) Dr. Dieffenbach is the Director of the Division of AIDS at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He spoke Exit Disclaimertoday with Molly Moon, MSW, Deputy Director of the NIH-supported Office of HIV/AIDS Network CoordinationExit Disclaimer.

They also discussed progress reported at IAS 2023 from several studies investigating long-acting HIV prevention and treatment options, including some that were presented in a plenary session that Carl chaired today. Carl summarized that long-acting options are moving toward better drugs with lower doses and longer durations. View their conversationExit Disclaimer below:

To learn more about what the results of the REPRIEVE trial mean, click here to watch Molly’s conversation with Steven Grinspoon, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard University and chief of the metabolism unite at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Videos:

Watch Dr. Carl Dieffenbach speak with Carl Shackelford about HIV vaccine research and broadly neutralizing antibodies:

Watch Office of AIDS Research Acting Director Dr. Bill Kapogiannis discuss OAR’s signature programs: