BROADLY NEUTRALISING ANTIBODIES ARE BEING EXPLORED FOR POTENTIAL HIV TREATMENT, PREVENTION, AND PERHAPS EVEN CURE OR LONG-TERM REMISSION
Broadly neutralising antibodies, or bNAbs, are a novel class of treatment that have the potential to change HIV care by posing a dual threat to HIV.
- First, bNAbs recognise and block different strains of the HIV virus, making them a powerful tool in the fight against the disease.1
- Second, bNAbs have the potential to enhance the immune system, playing a crucial role in efforts to find a cure or achieve long-term remission.
Understanding and developing bNAbs may offer additional treatment options and could lead us closer to ending the HIV epidemic.
What are neutralising antibodies and why are they unique?
Antibodies are produced by the immune system to help protect the body from harmful bacteria and viruses, playing a critical role in keeping us healthy by fighting off infections and disease. Think of antibodies as tiny trackers that recognize and attach to invaders like viruses, marking them so the immune system can find and destroy them. Broadly neutralising antibodies (bNAbs) are a type of antibody that recognises and fights off a wide range of different strains of a virus, like HIV. Unlike regular antibodies that only target a specific strain, broadly neutralizing antibodies can adapt and defend against many variations of a virus.1 This ability makes them especially valuable in treating or preventing infections like HIV, where the virus changes frequently.
Research suggests that bNAbs may also activate other immune cells to help destroy HIV-infected cells. This means bNAbs have dual action capabilities within HIV treatment and prevention because of their ability to inhibit virus transmission while also targeting and killing HIV infected cells, something current treatments do not offer.
At ViiV Healthcare, we are exploring whether bNAbs could offer the same level of efficacy, safety and tolerability as existing antiretrovirals. bNAbs also have the unique ability to target dormant HIV that is essentially hiding within cells called CD4+ T cells.2 The dormant HIV virus is kept in-check with traditional HIV treatment called antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, but if that therapy is stopped, the virus re-emerges.
How bNAbs fit into our research on HIV treatment
As part of our commitment to developing innovative therapies, ViiV Healthcare is pursuing the development of investigational bNAbs for the treatment and prevention of HIV-1. This ongoing research focuses on blocking HIV’s entry into human CD4+ cells, which is a key step in the HIV replication cycle – further showing the important role bNAbs could play in future long-acting therapies.
"Integrating bNAbs into a long-acting therapeutic approach could take us from [HIV] treatment to prevention to cure."
bNAbs provide potential for HIV cure and remission
We’re also exploring what role bNAbs could play in our cure and remission strategy. HIV lies dormant for many, many years and hides in CD4+ T-cells, also called the reservoir – where HIV has integrated itself into the human genome and is undetected by the immune system. This reservoir of infected cells is the reason why we cannot cure HIV.
Our Induce and Reduce strategy focuses on driving this reservoir out of hiding (Induce) so it can be eliminated (Reduce).
Our Reduce strategy is where the bNAb comes in. Studies have shown that certain bNAbs possess the potential to help tag the cells where the HIV virus is hiding and kill them.1 This is a sharp contrast to the drug regimens currently used to treat HIV, which do not have this ability. Also, bNAbs have been reported to enhance the body’s immune response against infected cells, in a manner similar to a vaccine.2,3
Our scientists are continually looking for groundbreaking solutions that have the potential to improve care and are excited at what broadly neutralising antibodies may mean for treatment, prevention and cure. With that in mind, our goal is clear – to create new, novel treatment and prevention options for people impacted by HIV and ultimately, end the HIV epidemic.
References:
- Thavarajah JJ, Hønge BL, Wejse CM. The Use of Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies (bNAbs) in HIV-1 Treatment and Prevention. Viruses. 2024; 16(6):911. https://doi.org/10.3390/v16060911. [Accessed 6 June 2025].
- Tebas P. (2025). Future of bNAbs in HIV Treatment. Current HIV/AIDS reports, 22(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11904-025-00744-1. [Accessed 6 June 2025].
- Liu, Y., Cao, W., Sun, M., & Li, T. (2020). Broadly neutralizing antibodies for HIV-1: efficacies, challenges and opportunities. Emerging microbes & infections, 9(1), 194–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1713707. [Accessed 6 June].
NP-GBL-HVX-COCO-220071 June 2025
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