OHIO — Researchers continue to make progress in addressing HIV/AIDS. This, as many around the globe recently marked the 37th annual World AIDS Day, which brings awareness about it throughout the month of December.

What You Need To Know

  • Over the past couple of years, we really have seen a very slow, overall and gradual downtrend, of new diagnoses of HIV in Ohio
  • According to 2022 CDC data, rates of new HIV diagnoses in Ohio are lower than other Midwestern states, like Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia 
  • Experts say there are more simple, potent and longer-acting agents that allow individuals with HIV to achieve viral suppression
  • Medical professionals are anticipating a rollout of the new drug Lenacapavir to help combat HIV in the near future

Dr. Jose Bazan, a clinical professor of Internal Medicine, specializes in infectious diseases at OSU Wexner Medical Center, said there’s been a number of advancements made in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. That includes biomedical prevention strategies like Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to help those who are at risk.

“So, you know, these interventions really serve as the tool that, hopefully, one day, are going to allow us to bring this epidemic to an end," he said.

While Bazan noted that people are living longer because of effective treatments, there are still significant racial and ethnic disparities as it relates to new HIV diagnoses.

“For example, African American individuals, you know, have a nearly a seven-times higher rate of new diagnoses compared to whites," he said. 

In the meantime, Bazan is optimistic as two large clinical trials have shown, that the drug Lenacapavir, which is injected twice a year, was highly effective in preventing HIV among at-risk individuals.

“These groundbreaking findings again, prove, you know, that we're making significant advances as it relates to HIV prevention, and it's really going to give our patients more options to choose from that can make it fit their lifestyles," he said.

His only hope is that if the drug makes it to market here in the U.S., that it will be affordable and accessible. A rollout of the drug is expected in the U.S. sometime over the next year, if it makes it through the approval stages.