Since the previous update on May 16, there have only been two changes identified for TAG’s HIV cure-related clinical research listing, making it one of the quietest periods since the initiation of the resource in 2014.
A small clinical trial sponsored by the AIDS Malignancy Consortium investigating gene-modified stem cells for people with HIV and cancers who require stem cell transplants has closed for enrollment but remains in follow up (see the Gene Therapies for HIV+ People with Cancers section of the listing). The broad goal of work in this area is to find ways to create HIV-resistant immune systems for people who need stem cell transplants but do not have access to appropriate donors with the CCR5Δ32 mutation.
As noted last month, a social science study assessing the perspectives of people screening for an HIV cure related trial — EHVA T02 — has now been terminated and shifted to the completed studies table. The research could not proceed further because the parental trial had to be closed due to slow enrollment and the experimental interventions reaching expiration dates that precluded administration. The researchers were able to present a limited analysis of the reasons why people who screened for the study chose not to enroll at the AIDS Impact conference in Stockholm earlier this week.
For a more comprehensive overview of progress in HIV cure research over the past year — including coverage of developments at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) that we haven’t been able to get to on the blog — look out for the 2023 Research Toward a Cure and Immune-Based Therapies Pipeline Report, which will be published next month immediately ahead of IAS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science in Brisbane.
TAG’s recently updated HIV Cure Research Information Sheet contains a briefer summary of the status of HIV cure research, including information on all the cases of HIV cures that have been publicly reported to date.
As a point of information for anyone else who uses clinicaltrials.gov regularly, work is ongoing at the National Library of Medicine to switch to an improved version of the registry. The new version is available in beta form, and as the planned change gets closer new studies are appearing slightly quicker (by ~1 day) in the beta database, making it the best source if you want to be extremely rigorous about ensuring search results are current.
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