Fact Check: HIV Preventive Treatment Still Undergoing Tests Portrayed As ‘AIDS Cure’

A claim circulating online falsely asserts the existence of a groundbreaking AIDS cure costing $40,000 annually. 

Image of Threads post saying that an AIDS cure has been discovered, costing $40,000 annually.

Source : Threads/"False" label added by Logically Facts

 

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The Verdict: False There is no approved cure for HIV at present.

Context

A claim circulating online falsely asserts the existence of a groundbreaking AIDS cure costing $40,000 annually. 

One post published on Threads on December 3 (archived here) reads, “A groundbreaking $40K AIDS cure, nearly 100% effective, requires just two shots a year.”

The post does not explicitly mention the name of the drug in question. 

In fact

According to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no approved cure for HIV at present. 

The details cited in the post match the description of the drug Lenacapavir — sold under the name Sunlenca and produced by pharmaceutical company Gilead — that has been tested as a potential preventative for HIV, not a cure for AIDS. 

Clinical trials under the PURPOSE studies have been evaluating the drug’s efficacy in HIV prevention. In PURPOSE 1 published in July, Sunlenca achieved 100% efficacy in preventing HIV among cisgender women in South Africa and Uganda for those who were injected twice-yearly.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the PURPOSE 2 trial findings found a 96% reduction in HIV incidence.

In response to the PURPOSE 2 trial findings, the World Health Organization (WHO) said they “provide compelling evidence for the potential of Lenacapavir to transform HIV prevention globally”. However, the PURPOSE studies are still ongoing.

In 2022, Reuters reported that Sunlenca would cost $42,250 in the first year and $39,000 annually thereafter.

But that price may drop, per research presented at an AIDS conference in Munich covered by The Associated Press in July. The article cited Andrew Hill of the University of Liverpool and colleagues, who estimated that the price would drop to $40 per treatment once production is boosted to treat 10 million people.

There have been advancements in the development of a potential cure. In March, BBC News reported that scientists at the University of Amsterdam had removed HIV from infected cells using a technique known as Crispr gene-editing technology. 

There have also been individual cases of those who received stem cell transplants entering long-term remission, according to the WHO.

The verdict

The claim is false. There is no approved cure for HIV at present. The details of the social media post match trial results for the injectable Sunlenca, which is being tested as a potential HIV prevention method, not as an AIDS cure.

This report first appeared on logicallyfacts.com, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.