The tenth installment of the series follows four decades of research in the quest to cure HIV and AIDS

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, October 30, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Stand Up for Science has released the tenth installment of its weekly “Traces Thursday” series, case studies in scientific patience that trace the long and winding roads of basic research that lead to groundbreaking discoveries. This week’s story, “HIV infection treatment and prevention,” traces the development of drugs for controlling transmission and infection of HIV.

When it first emerged in 1981, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, caused by the then-unknown Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), was an untreatable disease that led to over a hundred thousand deaths by the end of the decade. Just a couple years later, researchers identified HIV as the cause of AIDS and unlocked its genomic sequence, and the quest for a treatment began. In 1984, the then-Secretary for Health and Human Services estimated a vaccine would be ready for testing within two years.

More than forty years later, there still is no effective vaccine, but the treatment has come a long way. The first breakthrough for HIV treatment was azidothymidine, or AZT, which effectively blocked viral replication, but patients soon developed AZT-resistant virus strains. Scientists eventually identified a protein-cleaving enzyme (protease) essential to HIV viability, which also showed promising results, but again led to drug-resistant virus strains.

The next big breakthrough came in the mid-nineties, when researchers reported remarkable responses to a combination of these two treatment approaches—reverse transcription inhibitors that block viral replication and a protease inhibitor—that has since transformed HIV infection from a fatal disease to a treatable chronic condition.

“The conversion of HIV infection from a death sentence to a treatable chronic condition is one of the most important triumphs in modern medicine. Continued research has also given us the groundbreaking pre-exposure prophylaxis drug, or PrEP, which dramatically reduced mother-to-child transmission during childbirth, and most recently, lanacapavir, which was even more effective than PrEP at preventing infection in clinical trials,” said Dr. Jeremy Berg, author of the Traces series and former director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH and former Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine, now a member of the Board of Advisors with Stand Up for Science.

Since the 1980s, scientific discovery has produced a host of knowledge surrounding HIV, making it likely the most well-characterized virus, and informing our understanding of other viruses along the way. Decades of NIH-funded research have made incredible developments, but the challenge of finding an effective vaccine still remains unfinished.

This case study is the tenth of a planned twelve-part series. Each week, Berg examines another story that illustrates an unseen pattern of medical breakthroughs: the decades or centuries of foundational research that precede any visible benefit, and the scientific, regulatory, and practical challenges that can follow it.

Amid ongoing debate over federal science funding, “Traces Thursday” underscores the importance of sustained investment in basic and biomedical research. The medical advances explored throughout the series all depend on research that unfolds over periods of time far longer than a single grant cycle or presidential administration.

Stand Up for Science will continue publishing “Traces Thursday” on the Science Fight Club Substack each Thursday.

Berg is available for comment.

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Stand Up for Science is a grassroots, Washington, D.C. based, non-profit organization mobilizing the fight for science and democracy. Stand Up for Science was formed in February 2025 in response to actions affecting federal science agencies and funding of the American scientific ecosystem. On March 7th, Stand Up for Science mobilized over 50,000 people at 170+ events across the world on its first National Day of Action. Federal scientists across multiple agencies (NIH, EPA, NASA, FEMA) have chosen Stand Up for Science as the platform to publish their open letters of concern. Stand Up for Science is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization [EIN: 33-4154429] and donations are not tax-deductible.

Char Bowling
Stand Up for Science
media@standupforscience.net