Combination Vaccination and Broadly Neutralising Antibody Therapy in HIV

There is no cure for HIV infection. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is widely available but requires daily, life-long intake. This can cause issues around side-effects, resistance, adherence and stigma. A new therapy, broadly neutralising antibodies, (bNAbs), may work as well as ART and may last longer - one dose can last six months. bNAbs appear to first target HIV viruses, then drive a protective immune response conferring long-term control, called the vaccinal effect. AbVax is a clinical trial to understand this effect and how to enhance it to give the strongest possible long-term protection for people living with HIV (PWH). The investigators are studying whether a combination of vaccines that attack HIV, a short period of treatment interruption induced viraemia (TIIV - stopping ART for a few weeks to allow a small amount of virus to return to the bloodstream) and bNABs will produce the most sustained immune protection.