A cure for HIV will be essential to ending the AIDS pandemic, but science that is focused directly on a cure is still in early stages and will likely require the support of multiple stakeholders to proceed at the fastest pace. Â A day before the opening of the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), held in Seattle from March 5 through 8, 2012, 58 participants—including representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), members from the International AIDS Society (IAS), as well as academic and industry researchers and activists from the United States and Europe—viewed presentations by leading HIV researchers and companies working on HIV cure research. Â The goal of the meeting was to describe the current state of cure research and identify barriers to moving such research forward swiftly and smoothly.
To address critical questions, three HIV research advocacy organizations—the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition (ATAC), Project Inform and the Treatment Action Group (TAG)—asked a handful of leading industry and academic researchers to describe their current projects, to outline the obstacles and facilitators to cure research and to offer suggestions for the kinds of activities that community advocates might undertake to overcome current obstacles. To read this brief report, click here.