The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to be among the deadliest diseases in the world, and it remains to be a major public health issue in many countries, including the United States. According to the World Health Organization, HIV has killed more than 32 million people worldwide and estimates at least 37.9 million people are diagnosed. Among which are 770,00 people who died because of complications.
However, a recent breakthrough in the field of medicine promises complete eradication of the virus. An American pharmaceutical company claims to have developed the drug that will finally eradicate HIV/AIDS.
PROMISING FUTURE
American Gene Technologists or AGT aims to expand the options for people living with HIV since medications available nowadays focus on controlling the activity of the virus and preventing it from spreading.
The company has filed a 1000-page application to the Federal Drug Administration to be able to sell the potential cure for HIV, which they tagged as AGT 103-T. According to the company, the AGT 103-T offers benefits that could wipe out the infection permanently.
In an interview with company CEO Jeff Galvin, he says, "We need to move these people from anti-retroviral control to permanent immunity, and we think this project may be able to do that." According to AGT's website, this drug's approach focuses on key immune cells that serve as the building blocks of immunity against the virus. The AGT 103-T drug should be able to protect these cells and completely remove infected cells from the body. The company collaborated with the University of Maryland to obtain venous blood samples from HIV-positive individuals. These samples will then be analyzed to determine their level of HIV-reactive CD4+ T cells. If an individual responds with positive T cells, they will undergo leukapheresis (a procedure that separates white blood cells from the blood sample). Their specimen will then be tested to validate and qualify the AGT 103-T to be useful as well as therapeutic.
The company is optimistic that they will get a positive response from the FDA before the year ends, and when approved, AGT will start clinical trials for the drug. However, it is going to take several years for the company to gain approval from the FDA and offer the drug to the public.
IS HIV/AIDS BECOMING AN EPIDEMIC?
For years after it was first discovered, HIV/AIDS has continued to be a silent epidemic all over the world—more so on third-world countries. Although there are efforts from the World Health Organization and various government and non-government organizations, HIV/AIDS has become a bit manageable through accessible treatment, including for opportunistic infections. However, in recent years, cases of HIV/AIDS seem to rise, and the main cause is poor health care. For instance, WHO's goal of reducing new pediatric infections to 40,000 has not been achieved because of the lack of access to these basic treatments. In 2018 alone, 770,000 people died from HIV-related causes because of the lack of HIV services, and in the same year, 1.7 million people were newly infected with the virus.
WHO identified the group of people who are most vulnerable in contacting HIV-related diseases, and these are:
- people who engage in unprotected sex
- people who inject drugs using unsterilized and overshared needles,
- people in prison
- people who are sex workers
- adolescent girls and young women from the Eastern and Southern parts of Africa.
The organization also acknowledges the fact that most factors that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS are often associated with legal and social factors, which creates barriers against effective and accessible treatment from the virus.
