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HIV in 2019: it’s all about dolutegravir

BMJ 2019; 366 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4931 (Published 31 July 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;366:l4931
  1. Keith Alcorn, freelance journalist
  1. London, UK
  1. keith.alcorn{at}gmail.com

Every other year the International AIDS Society (IAS) meets to hear the latest basic and clinical research. Keith Alcorn says that this year the scientific presentations, as well as the hallway chatter, were dominated by a new drug for HIV

This year’s IAS 2019 Conference on HIV Science, held in Mexico City on 21-24 July, featured new research on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), new drugs, and simplified treatment, but it was dominated by one drug: dolutegravir. This was not a commercial launch but an inquest into how an ambitious attempt to roll out simplified treatment for lower and middle income countries had become hamstrung by concerns about toxicity.

Dolutegravir is an HIV integrase inhibitor, a new class of drug with a high barrier to drug resistance and few side effects. Generic combinations including dolutegravir cost less than …

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