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Potential new HIV treatment

Potential new HIV treatment developed at University of Nebraska Medical Center

Scientists reformulate medication to once-a-year injection

A novel means to prevent HIV infection was developed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center that could allow people with or at risk of acquiring the virus to take medicines once a year. The advance has the potential to eliminate complications that arise from missing doses of life-saving medicines, according to the study published today in Nature Materials, a leading peer-reviewed biomedical research journal.

Press Kit Documents

Audio Soundbites

Researcher Benson Edagwa (EE-DOG-WAH), PhD

Assistant professor in the University of Nebraska Medical Center Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, talks about the action of the drug.

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16 seconds

“We modified an HIV drug into a year-long medicine that stops the virus from entering into human cells. The changes made allow the drug to be slowly released for up to a year.”

Researcher Howard Gendelman, MD

Chairman and professor of the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, talks about what the potential drug could mean to HIV patients.

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13 seconds

“The social impact of the ease of administration, the lack of worry about transmission of the virus and the concern for adherence of the medicines is gone.”

Researcher Howard Gendelman, MD

Chairman and professor of the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, talks about what the research paper addressed in the potential drug.

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39 seconds

“What the paper has done is to look at different ways to make crystals of drugs and package those crystals in a lipid coat so they’re slowly released and hydrolyzed in the body for very long period of time and the patient doesn’t have to worry about the social stigma of getting an HIV drug at a pharmacy, doesn’t have to worry about putting an HIV medicine on their cabinets, doesn’t have to worry about seeing a pharmacist, and can have the drug administered in a doctor’s office once a year.”

Researcher Howard Gendelman, MD

Chairman and professor of the UNMC Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, talks about the importance the potential drug could have for people with HIV.

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18 seconds

“Infection is still exceedingly high on a global scale and if one can use highly active, antiretroviral drugs with prolonged half-lives -- can extend the time the drugs are administered -- we can not only treat, but even more importantly we can prevent transmission.”