“A long-acting injectable drug, cabotegravir, is safe and more effective than a daily pill in preventing HIV acquisition, according to results from a study of 3,127 cisgender women in sub-Saharan Africa. Led by UNC researchers beginning in November 2017, the study showed such promising results that a review board recommended ending the blinded phase of the trial early and sharing the results. ‘After years of evaluating HIV prevention strategies for women, I am thrilled that we have found CAB LA so effectively reduces HIV acquisition and provides women more choices in how to protect themselves,’ says Mina Hosseinipour, MD, HPTN 084 co-chair and scientific director of UNC Project-Malawi in Lilongwe, Malawi.” Many UNC CFAR investigators, including Dr. Hosseinipour, and the CFAR’s international site with UNC Project-Malawi were involved with this study.  This story first appeared November 10, 2020 on the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases website.

Rise Above COVID is a movement to find medicines for COVID-19 through the ACTIV-2 Study, a study for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 6 days. David Wohl, MD, is vice-chair of ACTIV-2, which is sponsored by the NIH with UNC CFAR researchers Joseph Eron, MD, and William Fischer, MD, as co-investigators. CFAR investigators are deeply involved in UNC’s COVID-19 response.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently authorized the emergency use of bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody developed by Eli Lilly to treat mild to moderate COVID-19. “Bamlanivimab is one of the drugs that Wohl and a team of researchers are studying through the ACTIV-2 clinical trial. The trial is enrolling at over 60 U.S. sites and will soon expand globally, including Brazil, Peru, and South Africa. Begun in September, ACTIV-2 is now studying 300 participants, including 30 at UNC. Throughout the long-running study, investigators will add

The HIV Medicine Association, or HIVMA, has honored UNC infectious diseases professor Ada Adimora, MD, MPH, with its 2020 Clinical Educator Award. The award, presented during the annual IDWeek conference, recognizes Adimora’s “extraordinary contributions to advancing clinical education, with a focus on disseminating her research on the drivers of HIV-related racial disparities.” Dr. Adimora is the Co-Director of the UNC CFAR. She is the Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor in UNC School of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases and a professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on the epidemiology of STDs and HIV in women and under-served populations in order to reduce transmission rates using community-based approaches. In 2019, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. She joined the UNC infectious diseases faculty in 1993. Read more

Dr. Myron S. Cohen, MD, Associate Director of the UNC CFAR, presented the 2020 Richardson Lecture, “Fighting Infections: The Long Term View.” Dr. Cohen is the Yeargan-Bate Eminent Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology and Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He serves as the associate vice chancellor for global health at the university, and director for the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases (IGHID). His research focuses on the transmission and prevention of transmission of HIV and he is playing an important role in the search for a vaccine for COVID-19.  When: September 17, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. EDT Where: Via Zoom Cost: Free This event has passed. View the recorded lecture here.

Professor Ada Adimora is this year’s Thomas Jefferson Award recipient. A Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor in the School of Medicine and professor of epidemiology in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, Dr. Adimora’s research focuses on the epidemiology of STDs and HIV in woman and under-served populations in order to reduce transmission rates using community-based approaches. In 2019, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, which is regarded as one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.  

Results from HPTN 083, a global large-scale study, show that the long-acting drug cabotegravir (CAB LA) is highly effective for prevention of HIV acquisition in cisgender men and transgender women. The study compares effectiveness of injections and oral tablets as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and is the first large-scale clinical trial of a long-acting injectable drug for HIV prevention. “The decades-long search for a vaccine to prevent HIV reached a new milestone as results from HPTN 083, a global large-scale study, show that the long-acting drug cabotegravir (CAB LA) protects uninfected people from HIV. The study, begun in December 2016, compared the safety and efficacy of the injectable drug, given every two months, to Truvada, a daily pill combining two drugs, for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. Findings showed that CAB LA lowered HIV incidence among cisgender men and transgender women who have sex with men, leading to a promising alternative to

Dr. Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, PhD, co-leader of the UNC CFAR NC CHEP Scientific Working Group, joined Bernie Sanders for a virtual town hall, “Incarcerated in a Crisis” on May 7, 2020. The guests discussed what needs to be done to protect the rights of the incarcerated in throughout the COVID-19 crisis. 

A novel collaboration between UNC’s Department of Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases includes creating a multidisciplinary primary care clinic to serve people living with HIV.  Led by Claire Farel MD, MPH, medical director of the UNC Infectious Diseases Clinic, Amy Durr, MSN, RN, FNP-BC associate director of the UNC ID Clinic, and Louise King, MD, new assistant professor in the division of general medicine and clinical epidemiology, the clinic will partner with UNC’s Ryan White programs, which provide comprehensive care for people living with HIV. This story first appeared April 25, 2020 on the UNC Department of Medicine website.