Intense Experimental Drug Therapy Might Have Cured 35-Year-Old Man Of HIV

A 35-year-old Brazilian who indulged in a specially designed combination of antiviral medications might be the first-known individual worldwide to experience long-term remission from HIV.

The man underwent an intense experimental drug therapy and hasn’t shown any symptoms of AIDS for over a year, even after stopping his HIV medications.

However, experts warn that the case lacks independent verifications and it’s way too soon to speculate about a possible cure for the deadly viral disease.

"These are exciting findings but they're very preliminary. This has happened to one person, and one person only, and it didn't succeed in four others given the same treatment,” Dr. Monica Gandhi, an AIDS specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told MedicalXpress.

They discussed the case at an AIDS conference where other researchers also disclosed an important prevention advance- an experimental medicine injected every two months which worked better than daily pills to help prevent homosexual men from contracting HIV from an infected sex partner.

If this Brazil patient’s case is confirmed, it would be the first time ever that HIV was eliminated in an adult without bone marrow or stem cell transplants. Researchers are also curious to find out if this patient’s remission lasts.

Two other patients (nicknamed “Berlin and London Patients”) were cured of HIV previously via transplants. They had donors with a gene that confers natural immunity to HIV infection. Since such transplants are medically risky and impractical, doctors have been trying several other approaches to fight HIV.

The Brazil patient had been taking a standard three-drug combination to suppress his HIV infection. In September 2015, he was given two more medications namely dolutegravir and maraviroc—plus nicotinamide to intensify the treatment.

After a year, he started followed his previous treatment plan of taking the standard three drugs for a couple of more years. And in March 2019, he discontinued all of these drugs.

Since then, the virus has been undetectable in many of his blood and tissue samples. And the most convincing evidence is that the patient has lost almost all HIV antibodies (substances the immune system produces when fighting the virus). He also took an anonymous HIV test in February, which again tested negative.

"I think it's very promising. This patient might be cured, but it will take more time to know,” MedicalXpress quoted Dr. Ricardo Diaz of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, as saying.