New antibody may finally defeat HIV
A new antibody engineered by scientists attacks the vast majority of HIV strains and has prevented infection in primates.
Published in the journal, Science, the breakthrough is part of a collaboration between the National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical company Sanofi.
Because HIV strains mutate, it has been hard for scientists to combat the disease with a specific treatment.
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By combining three antibodies known as "broadly neutralizing antibodies," scientists are now able to combat 90% of HIV strains, according to the BBC.
Experiments done on 24 monkeys that were given the antibody showed that none of them were infected by the disease after they were later injected with it.
Clinical trials to begin giving the antibody to people are set to start in 2018.
