Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is the virus that causes AIDS. Recently, a drug called Lenacapavir was approved for the treatment of HIV-positive patients, and new clinical trials show that it effectively prevents infection as well.
“The ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ from Science Magazine was designated based on these really remarkable, large-scale clinical trials, in two different contexts … and in both cases, it protected people in high-risk situations, almost entirely,” Wes Sundquist said.
Wes Sundquist is the chair of Biochemistry at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
“In our lab, we've been working on HIV for almost 35 years now, trying to understand how the virus is organized and how it replicates in human cells,” Sundquist said.
Specifically, Sundquist studies the viral capsid, a protein shell that surrounds the virus’s genetic material.
“Our work … has shown that the capsid plays a series of essential steps in the viral replication," Sundquist said. "So, I think it's fair to say that our contribution was really to identify the capsid as a potential drug target.”
Lenacapavir works by interfering with the HIV capsid and preventing the virus from reproducing. The drug is administered as a twice-yearly injection and has been shown to effectively protect people from infection.
“About 1.3 million people are newly infected with HIV every year … those are people who now will have the virus for life. And so of course, if you can prevent that from happening, you'll save a lot of lives, but also a lot of therapies that are required to keep those people alive and healthy,” Sundquist said.
Sundquist said biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences deserves recognition for its “heroic effort” in developing Lenacapavir. The drug is already available as a treatment for HIV and will be available for use as a preventative drug in June, pending approval from the FDA.
