Hello from winter in sunny Brisbane, Australia!  The International AIDS Society is holding its annual conference here this year with a focus on scientific advances. The days are full and hectic, but lots of interesting developments to share. As the conference progresses and more of the slides and material become available you can expect to see a series of blogs from the members of the San Diego contingent providing both news and perspective on what is being reported. For now, I’ll share a few quick observations on sessions I found particularly interesting.

Lots of talk about long acting methods for delivery of HIV medication removing the need to take daily ART pills. From the current injectable approach to implantable medication that slowly dissolves there are a number of new methods for both treatment and PReP for delivery of medication. This can be very effective for those who only take HIV meds or deal with stigma at a personal or cultural level that make carrying HIV medication difficult.

The team who led the REPRIEVE study whose results on the use of stations in PLWH are likely to lead to unexpected changes in the standard of care for HIV, showing a 35% reduction in cardiac events for those taking these drugs. This has certainly been the biggest news in HIV treatment in the past few years. This study involved a number of folks from the San Diego area.

Also hot are talks on the global Getting to Zero efforts to stop the spread of HIV and get those impacted into treatment. Lots of new research on various strategies and studies working towards a cure, whether through clearing HIV from the body, enabling the immune system to keep the virus in check without adding medication pr providing more affordable and effective treatment options. Those of us in attendance will provide more blog reporting on these and more interesting topics over the next days.

More to come!