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Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News Archive - August 2025
Ottawa community health clinic launches service to make STI testing more accessible
According to data from MAX Ottawa Community Health, chlamydia cases in Ottawa increased by 36 per cent between 2021 and 2023
Aug 31, 2025 - By Paula Tran - Ottawa Citizen - The 29th annual United States Conference on HIV/AIDS, considered the nation’s largest and most comprehensive gathering of experts involved in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is scheduled to take place in D.C. Sept. 4-7 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.
Among the keynote speakers at the conference will be “basketball legend, renowned entrepreneur, and advocate of people living with HIV Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson,” according to a statement released by NMAC, the D.C.-based national HIV/AIDS organization and lead organizer of the conference.
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Dr. Demetre Daskalakis on Public Health Fascism, HIV, and What’s Next
Aug 31, 2025 - By Mark S. King - My Fabulous Disease - In the center of the latest maelstrom at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the last week – on the heels of a deadly mass shooter who killed a police officer and shot out multiple CDC office windows – has been Demetre Daskalakis, MD, a career public health servant specializing in infectious disease who is well known in the HIV arena. Daskalakis resigned his position as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases along with other career CDC officials on August 27th just as HHS Secretary Kennedy created chaos in his attempt to fire CDC Director Susan Monarez.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE: EMBEDDING PRINCIPLES OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM AT NIH
August 29, 2025 - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH - Earlier this year, I committed to a comprehensive review of NIH's intramural policies to ensure that our scientists feel empowered to communicate their scientific expertise and research findings freely. I am proud to announce that, effective today, NIH is adopting an agency-wide framework that embeds principles of academic freedom within our Intramural Research Program. This framework strengthens existing policies so that every NIH scientist can share their research findings, whether publishing, presenting, or engaging with the media, without fear of interference or retaliation.
History shows that many scientific breakthroughs result from intellectual curiosity and a willingness to challenge the status quo. To ensure our scientists remain at the forefront of discovery, NIH is committed to fostering an environment where questioning the prevailing scientific norms is not just accepted, but expected. The new framework reinforces that scientific inquiry should be subject to rigorous debate and open discourse.
New hepatitis C point-of-care tests approved by Health Canada
August 28, 2025 - CATIE NEWS - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) - Health Canada has approved two new hepatitis C point-of-care tests for professional use
These tests can simplify testing, deliver faster results and expand community access to testing
Funding, distribution and implementation plans will be required to support uptake
Health Canada has authorized two new hepatitis C point-of-care tests for professional use in Canada: bioLytical’s INSTI HCV Antibody Test and Cepheid’s Xpert HCV VL Fingerstick. Approval of these point-of-care tests provides additional testing options that aim to reduce barriers to hepatitis C diagnosis.
Whatever happened to ... the race to cure HIV? There's promising news
August 25, 2025 - By
David Cox - NPR - In July 2024, we published a story with the headline: “One of the 7 people cured of HIV tells his story. Can his cure work for others.” This summer, at the International AIDS Society conference, came news of an exciting new development in the the ongoing effort to bring the epidemic to an end. This story is the first in our annual end of August series, “Whatever happened to …”
KIGALI, Rwanda — In a landmark first for the continent hardest hit by HIV, a new clinical trial in South Africa has delivered a rare but extraordinary outcome: One young woman may be cured of the virus.
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Wistar Institute’s Personalized HIV Cure Breakthrough
Aug 23, 2025 - HIV RNA Test Guide - What if HIV treatment moved beyond management and towards a real cure? The Wistar Institute has just announced a groundbreaking $17 million NIH-funded project to launch the iCure Consortium, a collaborative effort aimed at developing personalized HIV cure regimens..
With 38 million people still living with HIV worldwide, the iCure program takes a bold approach: instead of a one-size-fits-all treatment, it tailors six innovative strategies to each person’s unique form of HIV.
The Wistar Institute Receives $17 Million NIH Grant for Personalized HIV Cure Research
Philadelphia-led consortium is selected to tailor HIV curative strategies to participant
PHILADELPHIA — (AUGUST 19, 2025) — The Wistar Institute — The Wistar Institute announces the National Institutes of Health (NIH) granted a five-year, $17 million research award to launch iCure Consortium to develop individualized “cure regimens” for HIV. The Wistar-led, iCure Consortium’s objective is to advance strategies to cure HIV through tailored personalized medicine.
“Today 38 million people still live with HIV worldwide, and 1.3 million contract the virus each year,” said Luis J. Montaner, D.V.M., D.Phil., iCure principal investigator, executive vice president of The Wistar Institute and director of Wistar's HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center. “For the first time, this grant brings our best team together working towards a cure tailored to each participant by pairing the latest in neutralizing antibody and cell-therapy breakthroughs against the unique, person-specific features of HIV.”
iCure Consortium will test a six-part, individually-tailored therapy designed to wipe out the persistent viral reservoir that remains after antiretroviral therapy in an effort to deliver durable, drug-free remission. The project combines six advanced tactics—neutralizing antibodies, mRNA therapy, viral binders, engineered CAR-T and “Natural Killer” (NK) cells, and precision latency “wake-up” drugs—all designed against each patient’s unique virus.
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