Prospects for developing a cure or sustained remission for HIV

Sixteen years ago, the historic 13th International AIDS Conference inspired a new paradigm for HIV treatment access that helped change the trajectory of the global AIDS epidemic.

This year, as 18,000 scientists, policymakers, advocates and people living with HIV return to Durban, South Africa, AIDS 2016 will highlight the latest accomplishments and challenges in a rapidly expanding area of scientific inquiry that few could have imagined at the first Durban conference – the prospect of developing safe, effective, and globally scalable approaches to curing or achieving sustained remission of HIV infection.

"HIV cure research has the potential to alter the future of this epidemic," said Nobel Laureate Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, co-chair of the IAS Towards an HIV Cure Initiative. "With 37 million people currently living with HIV worldwide, and another 2 million newly infected each year, an effective approach to curing or achieving sustained remission of HIV infection would be a groundbreaking advance in global health.

Research to achieve such cures is in a formative stage, but significant advances are being made and will be explored in Durban at the fifth annual Towards and HIV Cure Symposium, and with the release of the IAS Global Scientific Strategy: Towards an HIV Cure 2016."

"HIV cure research became a scientific reality with the launch of the first IAS Global Scientific Strategy: Towards an HIV Cure at AIDS 2012," noted IAS President Chris Beyrer. "Today, HIV cure research has come into its own as a top HIV research priority, marked by significant advances in our understanding of the scientific challenges and opportunities, more cure-focused research collaborations, and a new optimism that a cure or sustainable remission for HIV is feasible."