Current Events –
HIV Treatment Without Any Pills?
Many HIV-positive Americans have grown accustomed to taking a “cocktail” of drugs to treat the virus.  But what if they could throw all of those pills away in exchange for a simple shot administered every other month?
Current Events
No, this is not farfetched or a fantasy.  A trial backed by Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline has uncovered a new treatment.
In the trial, people living with the virus were given a shot containing 2 drugs every 4 or 8 weeks. At both intervals, the shot worked just as well as people who were taking 3 pills per day to suppress the virus.  The study concluded that 94% of participants who received the injection monthly were viral suppressed 32 weeks into the trial.  That number increased to 95% for those who got the shot every 2 months. By comparison, 91% of people on pill-based regimens achieved an undetectable viral load.
Interestingly, the human immunodeficiency virus takes over a body’s white blood cells and turns them into factories that make more HIV. This makes white blood cells unable to fight off disease. When treatment is successful, a person is considered to be HIV undetectable, meaning the amount of virus in their blood is not able to be detected by many tests. Being HIV undetectable also significantly reduces the chance of transmitting the virus.
Currently, about 50,000 people per year are diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus.  Having an alternative method to help people stay undetectable is not only important for public health, but for the personal health of those living with the virus as well.
Paul Stoffels, head of pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson, called the possibility of a long-acting injection “transformational”  and said he believes it could improve the lives of those living with the virus by as soon as 2020.
Imagine a monthly or bi-monthly injection making HIV about as manageable as high cholesterol.
This is real important news. I know there's not a cure for it yet but science has come along way in making HIV much easier to treat.