KULeuven researchers led by Professor of the faculty of Medicine Zeger Debyser have discovered an approach to make the HIV virus permanently harmless.
Published in the scientific journal 'Nature Communications,' the research presents a new way to disable the virus in cells within a controlled factory environment.
According to the World Health Organisation currently just under 40 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023, with over 600,000 related deaths in the same year.
"Optimising and fine-tuning"
This "scientific breakthrough" still has a long way to go according to Debyser who recognises that HIV is "the biggest [continuous] pandemic" currently, with VRT noting there are around 18,000 people living with HIV in Belgium alone.
Many living with the virus are medicated, although this medication must be taken for life and can be expensive and inaccessible. The development by the team at KULeuven completely disables the cells, putting the virus into a deep sleep and preventing it from being transmissible.
The project still has to go to clinical testing before the treatment can be fully developed and made available to the public.
Aiming to develop the safety of the medication to a higher level while retaining the effect, the KULeuven team are hoping to receive the first round of toxicology results within a year through collaboration with a pharma company.
Following this, the medicine will be given to healthy volunteers and eventually patients in need, once it has been verified as safe; a process which could take up to a minimum of five years.
The project is funded by the National Fund and KULeuven.
Spreading the word
The report was published with two reasons in mind - to update colleagues so that they can build upon one another's work within the field of virology and to inform the general community that research is being done to find solutions for those struggling with the virus.
