AIDS/IAS: International AIDS Society Conferences

AVAC's Mitchell Warren argues PEPFAR and the Global Fund’s goal to reach 3 million people with lenacapavir PrEP by 2028 is far too small and too slow.

The move toward integrating HIV services with other healthcare services was already underway before the PEPFAR cuts, says Warren, executive director of AVAC.

Zambia's Lloyd Mulenga, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., says U.S. funding cuts pushed African governments toward domestic financing, but he fears for HIV prevention.

Zambia's infectious disease director says data and specimen sharing, not mineral rights, are what's holding up its still-unsigned U.S. health memorandum of understanding.

It is not surprising that it is taking some time for injectable lenacapavir for PrEP to catch, an Emory Univeristy researchers say the patterns of use in the early months of lenacapavir's availability are similar to inequities seen with older versions of PrEP.

Lowering the dose of islatravir from 20 milligrams to two seems to have solved problem of sinking CD4+ T cell counts.

Community-led programs across four countries show gains in HIV retention, mental health and service uptake among people who engage in chemsex.

Questions about price and access hover over the positive results for a weekly HIV treatment pill that combines Merck’s islatravir and Gilead’s lenacapavir.

Data presented at the International AIDS Conference 2026 show Cabenuva reduced viral rebound in adolescents versus oral therapy, but access to long-acting injectables remains limited where need is greatest, investigators said.

Raphael J. Landovitz, M.D., of UCLA, says HIV prevention science has surged ahead of the world's ability to deliver it.

Raphael J. Landovitz, M.D., says rare lenacapavir breakthrough infections raise new questions about how often patients need testing between PrEP doses.

Raphael J. Landovitz, M.D., of UCLA says surveillance gaps, Medicaid nonexpansion states and injectable pricing are stalling U.S. PrEP uptake.

Monica Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., of UCSF, told AIDS 2026 that five years after approval, long-acting HIV drugs remain largely confined to wealthy countries.

Zambia's director of infectious disease spoke about the pared-down "basic minimum package" now adopted in Malawi, Mozambique and Kenya as U.S. funding for HIV response tightened.

Real-world CAPTIVATE study of 241 CAB LA users found no HIV acquisitions, 99% satisfaction and 97% preference over oral PrEP.

Researchers report positive results from open-label extension studies amid looming concerns that the long-acting injectable won’t be available where it is needed.

Disbursements for the HIV response dropped by 25% from 2024 to 2025

In the VOGUE trial, Dovato matched Biktarvy at week 48, demonstrating that it was noninferior in HIV-1 viral suppression in treatment-naive adults, including high-risk patients.

A once-weekly oral HIV treatment could make a major difference in resource-constrained settings, says the executive director of AVAC.

People are beginning to fall out of treatment because of the PEPFAR funding cuts but the infrastructure of the programs has survived, says the executive director off AVAC, a U.S. organization that advocates for HIV prevention.

AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren says HIV prevention science has never been stronger, even as funding cuts have left program infrastructure badly weakened.

Renee Heffron, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, says the HIV field has found new collaborations and funders after major disruptions in U.S. funding and cannot afford to lose ground on prevention.

Zambia has received just 13,000 of the tens of thousands of lenacapavir doses it hopes to get for PrEP, forcing rationing, says Lloyd Mulenga, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., a top health official in Zambia.

Zambia's Lloyd Mulenga, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., says U.S. funding cuts have imperiled HIV prevention programs in his country even as treatment and lab support continue.

Mulenga, a top health official in Zambia, says the country cut new HIV infections from 58,000 to 28,000 a year, but U.S. funding cuts and disruption threaten those gains, especially among young women.

A monthly pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) pill would be less burdensome than daily pills and would be an important addition to the choices for HIV prevention, says Heffron, an HIV/AIDS researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who is co-chairing a preconference meeting on HIV prevention today before the official start of the International AIDS Society meeting tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Renee Heffron, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, discusses PrEP choice and alternative ways of delivery HIV prevention as she previews a preconference meeting, "HIV prevention, science and access" scheduled for today that she is co-chairing.

Survey of PEPFAR-funded organizations shows the effects of the administration's policies.

Long-acting injectable PrEP may improve access, protection and adherence, especially for young people and pregnant women, according to Hasina Subedar, a senior technical advisor at South Africa’s National Department of Health, who spoke with editors at IAS 2025 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Researchers wanted to provide insight into the relative clinical value of Apretude and lenacapavir compared with no pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and they presented the data at the International AIDS Society meeting.