New Drug Could Beat HIV Epidemic. Trump Is in the Way

1985: the year the AIDS crisis finally broke through the silence

1985 marked a pivotal turning point in the global AIDS crisis. What had been dismissed by many as a distant or marginalized epidemic suddenly became a central issue in public consciousness, driven by a confluence of activism, celebrity, and political reckoning. Before 1985, the AIDS crisis was marked largely by government indifference, widespread stigma, and virtually no federal funding. It had been four years since stories of a “rare cancer” in…

Hopes of ending HIV struggle fade amid US cuts

Optimism that the struggle against HIV could be won is fading after the US slashed funding for global health projects. The development of the preventative drug lenacapavir, along with new research that hinted at a way of making the virus visible to the immune system, raised hopes of a breakthrough year. But cuts to US aid budgets mean that vaccine and drug stocks are dwindling and trials are being halted midstream. Researchers fear infections ar…

New drug could beat HIV epidemic. Trump is in the way

Tens of millions of people worldwide live with HIV. Lenacapavir can prevent the virus for months with one injection — a potential game changer. But President Trump and Elon Musk have upended foreign aid.

FDA approves HIV medication Lenacapavir, but it's costly

A newly approved HIV medication provides near-total protection against infection with just two injections a year. It's called Lenacapavir. But the high price of the drug could limit its reach.