HPTN 052

HPTN 052 is the name of a clinical trial conducted in nine countries which examined the extent to which antiretroviral therapy (ART) can, when taken by people who have HIV, decrease their infectivity and thereby reduce the chance that they will pass HIV on to their sexual partners.[1] The results of the study were so compelling that the study's Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) asked the research team to share the results with all study participants and offer ART to the control group before the study ended.[2] As a result of the study there was increased consensus that treatment as prevention should be included as a public health strategy in lowering HIV infection. The trial was organized by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) and its chief architect was Myron S. Cohen.

Ethics

This study was groundbreaking for providing compelling evidence that treating persons with HIV actually reduces HIV infection rates in communities.[3] Now that this information is available, it has created debates about ethical obligations which communities might have when making decisions about providing HIV treatment.[3]

Reception

In December 2011, Science named the study as "Breakthrough of the Year".[4]

References

  1. ↑ Cohen MS; Chen YQ; McCauley M et al. (August 2011). "Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy". N. Engl. J. Med. 365 (6): 493–505. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1105243. PMC 3200068. PMID 21767103.
  2. ↑ Matassa, Matt (May 12, 2011). "Initiation of Antiretroviral Treatment Protects Uninfected Sexual Partners from HIV Infection (HPTN 052)" (PDF). Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cohen, M. S.; McCauley, M.; Sugarman, J. (2012). "Establishing HIV treatment as prevention in the HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 randomized trial: An ethical odyssey". Clinical Trials 9 (3): 340–347. doi:10.1177/1740774512443594. PMC 3486723. PMID 22692805.
  4. ↑ Cohen J (December 2011). "Breakthrough of the year. HIV treatment as prevention". Science 334 (6063): 1628. doi:10.1126/science.334.6063.1628. PMID 22194547.

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