Immune response may be harnessed to control HIV, RIO study shows

New antibody therapies could offer alternative to current treatments.

Researchers led by Imperial have unveiled primary trial results that show encouraging advances in HIV treatment driven by immune-based therapies.

The RIO trial assessed the impact of two long-acting immune therapies known as broadly neutralising antibodies, or bNAbs, compared with placebo, among 68 people living with HIV who stopped taking their antiretroviral medicines.

The trial primary outcome results, announced at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), showed that three quarters of participants who received the bNAbs were able to control the virus while off their antiretroviral therapy, compared to those who received a placebo over a 20-week period. 

While the trial primary findings have not yet been published in an academic journal and are therefore not yet peer reviewed, the RIO project team – a research partnership between Imperial College London, the University of Oxford and Rockefeller University, New York - believes they mark an exciting development.

Read full article on Imperial website here