New breakthroughs in HIV therapies

by Mary Turner
HIV/AIDS Columnist

New breakthroughs are exciting. New breakthroughs in HIV/AIDS treatments can be uber-exciting. That excitement can be short lived, however, if the anticipation of what the therapy can do doesn’t match the actual result.

We Americans often have a very unrealistic view of medicine and health care providers. For whatever reason, we seem to expect that no matter what happens to us - what we do to ourselves - that there will be a magic pill or other treatment to fix us.

That isn’t completely our fault. We’re bombarded daily with advertisements for drugs and treatments and things to make us feel better. It’s okay for us to ignore the fine print that goes with those promises because we’re also bombarded by advertisements from people who want to fix what went wrong in our pursuit of being better.

For those reasons, I usually receive the news about breakthroughs in HIV/AIDS treatments with a great deal of skepticism. I’ve heard too often about “cures” on the front page that quickly drop to the back page and then are never heard from again. Nonetheless, word of a new lab-created antibody created by researchers at the Rockefeller University in New York sounds promising (Nature: 2015. doi:10.1038/nature14411). The point of this article isn’t to address that research or the findings (especially since I didn’t have time to secure permission from the editors).

Nope, what I want to do is encourage you to consider participating in clinical trials. The only way to safely and effectively move a new treatment from the potential stage to practical use is by testing it in a clinical trial. This process requires the participation of people who are HIV+ or who are at risk of infection to determine whether the treatment does what the researchers hope that it will.

The National Institute of Health has listings of clinical trials around the country as well as HIV/AIDS clinical trials networks. ClinicalConnection.com allows people to create a free member account so that you can be notified if clinical trials that may interest you become available.

The site also provides links to health news, trials searches and alerts. Lastly, ClinicalTrials.gov offers a registry for people who are interested in participating in studies. The only way we can reasonably expect real breakthroughs in treatment options for those with HIV/AIDS is if people like you decide to become a part of the solution.

The Gayly – May 13, 2015 @ 11:40am.