Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it hopes to have a cure for HIV by 2030. Modern treatments are functional cures – people live long and healthy lives and there is zero risk that they pass on the virus once their viral load is undetectable. Still, those treatments require regular pills or injections. A cure will hopefully provide a permanent solution and Glaxo’s candidate is set to go into human trials next year. “Our ultimate goal is always a cure of HIV,” Kimberly Smith, head of research and development at Glaxo’s HIV arm ViiV Healthcare, told investors in a presentation as reported by Bloomberg. "[I hope] that we’ll contribute to getting there by 2030 if not sooner.” For years, 2030 has been seen as the point at which the HIV epidemic can be brought to an end. The company and many others are also working on treatments that require fewer and fewer interventions, such as injections many months apart. December 1 is World AIDS Day and the theme this year is "End inequalities. End AIDS. End pandemics." HIV is still the deadliest pandemic of the last 100 years and inequalities in access to treatments and preventative drugs, inequalities in education, and access to testing, contribute to the continuation of the pandemic. To the detriment of all. Challenging stigma, ignorance, and outdated ideas about HIV is something we can all do, as well as demanding fair distribution of life-saving drugs around the world. Source
