The trial, led by Imperial College London and involving Oxford University and Rockefeller University in New York, included 68 volunteers from Britain and Denmark between 2021 and 2024.
The results, published in the medical journal The Lancet HIV, were very promising, with 75% of participants able to stop taking their usual treatment for at least five months.
Even more impressively, nearly a quarter of the participants maintained viral suppression for two full years without any medication. And almost half of the participants kept their viral load under control for one year.
Currently, people living with HIV need to take daily medication (or a monthly injection) for life. This treatment, known as antiretroviral therapy (ART), does not cure the virus completely, but it prevents the virus from replicating and helps maintain a healthy immune system.
But the problem is that stopping this treatment leads to the virus quickly returning to dangerous levels, which can cause serious illness and increase the risk of transmitting the infection to others.
How does the new treatment work?
The new treatment is based on "broad-spectrum neutralizing antibodies" (bNAbs). These are specialized proteins in the immune system that act as a shield, attaching to the virus and preventing it from entering healthy cells.
In the trial, participants received an intravenous solution containing a mixture of these antibodies. Compared to a control group that received a placebo (saline only), the new treatment proved significantly more effective.
Professor John Frater of Oxford University, one of the study's participants, explains how this innovative treatment works: "These antibodies work in two ways: First, by directly attacking the virus. Second, by stimulating the body's natural immune system to work more strongly."
He adds: "This data represents an important step in our understanding of how immunotherapies can complement current AIDS treatment strategies."
Professor Sarah Fiedler, lead researcher from Imperial College London, said: "These findings open up new possibilities for treating AIDS and bring us one step closer to our ultimate goal: finding a cure."
She adds: "This is the first time that a rigorous scientific trial has proven that an antibody treatment can control the virus for this long period and to this level."
The trial is ongoing, with researchers now testing a new phase: intermittently pausing treatment to measure how long the virus can remain undetectable without medication. The team also wants to study those who maintained immunity for the longest period to see if this remarkable result can be replicated or even improved for a wider population.
If future trials prove this treatment to be successful on a wider scale, we may be on the verge of a real revolution in AIDS treatment, from a daily pill for life to a few doses of antibodies that could free the patient from medication for years.
