The latest in HIV treatment and PrEP from IAS 2025 by Heather Ellis
Heather Ellis is a journalist, the communications officer for Positive Women Victoria and the chair of the Melbourne HIV cure consortium community advisory board. She was awarded an IAS scholarship to attend the IAS Conference on HIV Science in Kigali, Rwanda.
This article was originally published in Positive Living.
The 13th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science was held in Kigali, Rwanda in July. Updates and advances towards a cure for HIV was an important focus at this meeting. Some of the HIV cure highlights from the meeting are summarised here:
bNAbs here to stay
Researchers advised that broadly neutralising antibodies (bNAbs) are well and truly here to stay. These lab-made bNAbs are showing promise as a long-acting HIV treatment, in prevention and potentially a cure.
Discovered about 10 years ago in “elite controllers” who naturally suppress HIV, bNAbs can neutralise many HIV strains.
Lab-engineered bNAbs are now in human trials, often tested in analytical treatment interruptions (ATIs), to see if people control HIV without taking ARVs.
bNAbs and lenacapavir as a long-acting HIV treatment
Researchers were very excited about the potential of lenacapavir combined with two different long-acting bNAbs. Data from a Phase 2 study from the US, showed an impressive 96% viral suppression at 26 weeks (six months) in the 53 participants enrolled.
As a long-acting treatment (six months), the hope is that the bNAbs will attack the HIV as it reactivates from hidden reservoirs, while lenacapavir stops viral replication from getting out of control. However, some researchers raised concerns: since bNAbs need some virus ‘visible’ to work, if lenacapavir suppresses HIV too effectively, the antibodies might run out before doing their job.
Advocates also warned that the high cost of this treatment, long (90 minute) infusions, and health systems already stretched thin could make access difficult in low-and middle-income countries where most people with HIV live.
A step closer to a functional cure using bNAbs
A new study combined bNAbs with the immune-stimulating drug N-803 to see if viral rebound could be delayed after stopping ARVs. By Week 24, almost half of the 28 participants remained suppressed; at Week 48, eight still showed no rebound; three at Week 72; and one person at 125 weeks (over two years).
These results echo the UK’s RIO trial, which was a HIV cure study and the largest bNAb study to date. Three of 68 participants had no viral rebound for nearly two years after just two bNAb infusions and nothing else.
In both of these studies, some of the people who had no viral rebound could be post-treatment controllers. About 5% of people with HIV, often women or those treated soon after HIV transmission, naturally control the virus meaning they don’t go back on their ARVs. Researchers noted that around 20% of people given bNAbs may continue as controllers, possibly because their immune systems learn to make new antibodies even after the infusion has cleared.
One woman in remission using bNAbs
The FRESH study in South Africa tested a “kick and kill” approach, pairing bNAbs with vesatolimod, a drug called a latency reversal agent that jolts HIV out of hiding in reservoirs. FRESH enrolled 20 young women and all were diagnosed very early and placed immediately on ARVs so they had very small HIV reservoirs. For the study, the 20 young women went on an ATI where they stopped taking ARVs. Four had no viral rebound for over a year, and one woman remains off ARVs more than two years later. Researchers caution she may be a post-treatment controller, but her case offers hope for a functional cure.
Combined, the recent bNAb studies show some promising early data for HIV cure, with some people remaining off ARVs with suppressed virus levels for prolonged periods. However, this hasn’t been shown consistently with enough study participants to call bNAbs a successful HIV cure strategy. Scientists are working to make the next generation of bNAbs more potent and broader in a hope to achieve a cure for HIV.
bNAbs secreted by hybrid T-cells
Belgian researchers reported promising lab results using hybrid CAR T-cells engineered to secrete bNAbs. CAR T-cell therapy boosts a person’s T-cells with a “GPS-like” receptor to target HIV-infected cells, while also producing bNAbs to strengthen the immune system—mimicking elite controllers who naturally control HIV.
Early lab studies suggest this approach might clear HIV reservoirs, a major hurdle to a cure. Planning for the first human trial is underway, but the therapy is costly and complex, limiting global rollout.
HIV remission naturally
Rare “elite controllers” can suppress HIV without treatment. Two women highlight what’s possible:
San Francisco Patient, Loreen Willenberg (diagnosed 1992) has never taken HIV drugs. At IAS2025, a she shared a video message about her recent lung cancer diagnosis. Despite undergoing immune-suppressing cancer therapy, her HIV has not rebounded.
Esperanza Patient, Argentina (diagnosed 2013) also shows no intact HIV and has given birth to two HIV-negative children while naturally controlling the virus.
Researchers are now studying how HIV can be permanently “locked” in cells, aiming to replicate this through gene editing, immune therapies, or drugs for lasting remission—or a cure.
Unmasking HIV: A new step towards a cure
A major breakthrough in exposing the hidden HIV reservoir was presented at IAS 2025 by co-senior author Professor Sharon Lewin, director of the Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne, which is a global hub for HIV cure research. Announced in June 2025 with widespread global media attention, the team’s research used the same mRNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines, delivered via a new lipid nanoparticle (a tiny fat bubble), to force HIV out of hiding in infected cells.
Once unmasked, HIV becomes visible to strategies like bNAbs, which could then clear HIV from the body.
This science still has several years to go before it advances to clinical trials, but it may just be the cure breakthrough we’ve all be waiting and hoping for. Read more.
A ‘Parasitic’ harmless HIV to fight real HIV
Researchers, also from Belgium, unveiled Therapeutic Interfering Particles (TIPs) — a harmless version of HIV stripped of disease-causing genes. Once inside a cell, TIPs hijack real HIV, replicating faster and using up all the cell’s resources so the real virus can’t multiply. In an animal study, a single TIPs dose suppressed HIV for long periods, suggesting it could work as a one-time, long-lasting treatment or functional cure that adapts to new strains and could be delivered cheaply worldwide.
Human trials are planned with ‘Last Gift’ volunteers: people with HIV who are terminally ill and donate their final months to research. Read about the Last Gift project
What’s next?
IAS 2025, with nearly 4000 delegates and many more online, showed HIV science is stronger than ever. Long-acting PrEP, new HIV treatments, and cure research are advancing—but all depend on sustained funding. At the closing, IAS President Beatriz Grinsztejn looked to AIDS 2026 conference in Rio, urging the HIV community: ‘The science is ready. Are we?’ and called for renewed strategies, restored services, and collective strength.
Links
Watch the IAS 2025 conference sessions (open to the public from 17/9/2025)
Review of Data Presented at IAS 2025 by IAS-USA
Watch the webinar recording: HIV Science from IAS2025 Unpacked (with special guest HIV cure researcher: Dr Jillian Lau. Hosted by Positive Women Victoria)
