Ethical considerations in HIV cure research

HIV cure research: expanding the ethical considerations.

Mounting evidence is fueling excitement over the possibility of curing HIV-infection. Two “Boston patients” who underwent bone marrow transplantation1 and a “Mississippi baby” who was given aggressive antiretroviral therapy (ART)2 soon after birth seem to be free of HIV-infection. These accounts build upon reports of the “Berlin patient” who lacks evidence of HIV-infection following transplanta...

Ethical Considerations in HIV preventative vaccine research

Interrupting antiretroviral treatment in HIV cure research: scientific and ethical considerations

Over the past several years there has been intense activity directed at the possibility of achieving remission or eradication of HIV infection. Current assays for the measurement of latent HIV are insufficient to demonstrate complete clearance of replication-competent HIV. Therefore, the ultimate test for assessing whether investigational interventions have resulted in HIV remission or eradicat...

Social and ethical implications of HIV cure research.

One of the defining qualities of living with HIV has been that it is incurable, and this basic fact has powerfully formed and disrupted individual, organizational and institutional identities [1,2]. But now, this basic fact is contested. Today, one individual appears to be cured [3,4]. Several individuals are ‘posttreatment controllers’, having undetectable viral loads following a period of ear...

Ethical considerations in adherence research

Poor adherence to treatment is a common cause of medical treatment failure. Studying adherence is complicated by the potential for the study environment to impact adherence behavior. Studies performed without informing patients about adherence monitoring must balance the risks of deception against the potential benefits of the knowledge to be gained. Ethically monitoring a patient's adherence t...