New Resources on AVAC.org

Here’s a roundup of new resources on AVAC.org and PrEPwatch.org!

Vaccine Equity: More must be done now!

• More than 175 leading scientists, civil society leaders and organizations, including AVAC, issued a letter to the White House on August 10th demanding bold and immediate new steps to scale up mRNA vaccine manufacturing around the world.
• The Washington Post also reported on this effort to push the Biden Administration to meet key demands, including a commitment to establish the capacity to manufacture 8 billion doses a year of mRNA vaccines before 2022.

CAB-LA and Implementation Science: New options must be paired with smart rollout

• The published results of HPTN’s 083 study of injectable cabotegravir among cisgender men and transgender women was published on August 12th in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
• The results were accompanied by an editorial from CAPRISA’s Quarraisha Abdool Karim, stressing the need for implementation science to make sure new PrEP options reach those who need them.
• Find background and context on CAB-LA in AVAC’s Advocates' Primer on Long-Acting Injectable Cabotegravir for PrEP. And check out a suite of new resources on PrEPWatch.org from our Prevention Market Manager project that draw insights from a decade of experience with oral PrEP programs, with implications for CAB-LA and other next-generation prevention options.

Protecting Global Gains: Resilient health systems look at the whole picture

The latest installment of stories of adaptation among health systems during COVID is up, Flexible programming gives young women in Rwanda the tools they need to get through COVID-19. The story showcases one Rwanda program under PEPFAR’s DREAMS program where the vocational training in tailoring, offered alongside traditional healthcare, gave young women both skills that were needed during the pandemic and critical social support in the midst of lockdown.

The Ethics of Trial Design: Where PrEP fits in for next-generation prevention trials and more

AVAC is taking a long look at two new guidance documents and their implications for HIV prevention trials: The HPTN’s Ethics Guidance for Research and from UNAIDS/WHO Ethical Considerations in HIV prevention trials.

• Jeanne Baron’s blog, Ethical Guidance in Focus, compares the two, including highlights of what’s new from previous guidance documents and a table summarizing the implications.
• AVAC’s August 5th webinar, New Ethical Guidelines for HIV prevention trials in people: What’s changed and Why Does it Matter?, takes another step in explaining these updated essential documents provide context for their use. Hear advocates and bioethicists discuss the role of PrEP, community engagement, equity and more in future trial design.
• This factsheet outlines different trial designs under discussion, provides links to background material, and offers details on three trials being designed to test next-generation PrEP: monthly oral PrEP with islatravir from Merck; a new form of daily oral PrEP with F/TAF from Gilead; and six-monthly injectable PrEP with lenacapavir from Gilead.

From IAS 2021

If you are catching up on the 11th annual IAS Conference on HIV Science, AVAC has the resources you need.

• IAS 2021: Our Take and Updates rounds up the latest on the prevention pipeline, offers conference highlights on the intersection of COVID-19 and HIV, dives into new findings on PrEP and resistance, looks at how differentiated service delivery (DSD) has advanced and more.
• Research Literacy Zone Roundup offers links to sessions where researchers and advocates discuss critical questions for the field, including rollout of the Dapivirine Vaginal Ring, the status of vaccine and cure research, new approaches to address the social determinants of health, vaccine hesitancy and more.

The State of the Field for Rectal Microbicides

AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) and AVAC teamed up to host a webinar, Butt Stuff – All Gender HIV Prevention for Backdoor Action.

• The recorded session (access passcode: $v62dCvi) features the presentations on the status of research and development for options that focus on the rectum, where HIV infection often occurs.
• The slide presentations are also available as a PDF.
• And you won’t want to miss the accompanying playlist, from DJ Taylor Waits.

The State of the Field for Multi-Purpose Technology

Next up in the AFC and AVAC webinar series, Can Fantasies Become Realities? The Quest for Multi-purpose Prevention Products, is on Wednesday, October 13 10am–12pm EDT. Researcher Dr. Sharon Hillier and others will discuss the need for products that not only prevent HIV but are contraceptive as well, or prevent other STIs—or all the above. This webinar will also feature performers and a live DJ. Register today!