A survey conducted by the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) showed that the cure for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is near. This is the first study, on a global scale, to test overtreatment in individuals chronically infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The coordinator of the research is the infectologist Ricardo Sobhie Diaz. Together with his team, Diaz has been working on two fronts to cure the disease. One uses drugs and substances that kill the virus at the time of replication and eliminate the cells where HIV is asleep (latency); the other develops a vaccine that causes the immune system to react and eliminate infected cells that the drug is unable to reach.

The research was carried out with 30 volunteers with an undetectable viral load, under standard treatment, according to what is currently recommended: the combination of three types of antiretrovirals, better known as “cocktail”. The volunteers were divided into six subgroups, each receiving different combinations of medicines, in addition to the “cocktail” itself.

For members of the subgroup that had the best results so far, two more antiretrovirals were administered: Dolutegravir, the strongest drug currently available on the market; and Maraviroc, a substance that forces the virus, previously hidden, to appear.

News from: Exame