Raphael Landovitz, M.D., on HIV prevention gains, gaps | AIDS 2026

More than a decade after he first addressed the topic on the conference stage, Raphael J. Landovitz, M.D., says the science of HIV prevention has advanced further than he could have predicted, even as the world has struggled to deliver that science to the people who need it most.

In this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive at AIDS 2026, Landovitz reflects on more than a decade of change in HIV prevention and what still stands between the field's scientific gains and their global impact.

Landovitz, professor of medicine at UCLA and director of the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services, pointed to lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable approved as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), as evidence of how far product development has come, with a once-yearly option now in development. "Remarkable progress in terms of product development, for sure," he said, calling the pace of scientific advances in the field "terrific."

That progress has not translated into broader access, he said. Global resources, political will, the cost of products and operational hurdles have all slowed efforts to turn a growing menu of highly protective prevention options into a measurable decline in HIV incidence worldwide. "Frustratingly, lack of progress in getting a broad menu of these really powerful prevention choices to populations who need them most across the world," Landovitz said, describing the current moment as equal parts encouraging and maddening.

He pointed to a growing body of implementation science research as evidence of what is possible when access barriers are removed. Studies that let people choose freely among available prevention options and switch between them as their circumstances change have shown zero incident HIV infections in the populations studied, he said. For Landovitz, that finding is both a validation of the field's progress and a reminder of what is being left on the table. "We seem to have made so little progress in getting towards that goal of making a full menu of products free and easily accessible to all the people across the world who need it," he said.