Helping people prevent HIV acquisition plays a central role in ending the HIV epidemic. We’re aiming for a future where everyone who needs or wants HIV prevention medicine has an option that fits within their lives.

To make that a reality, we’re advancing innovations that are both long-acting and highly effective, including a twice-yearly option approved in the United States and many countries around the world. This option expands on our decades of innovation across HIV, including our introduction of the first once-daily oral medication for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP means routinely taking prescription medicine before being exposed to HIV to help reduce the chances of being infected by the virus.

To accelerate progress, we’re committed to expanding access to twice-yearly HIV prevention medicine to people around the world – particularly in places hardest hit by HIV – and through working closely with partners from all sectors. Our approach to access begins in clinical development, where we design clinical trials in partnership with communities most affected and work with populations that are most in need of new prevention options.

Innovation in HIV prevention continues to go full speed at Gilead. We are now aiming to develop even longer-acting options, including those requiring only once-yearly dosing.

Gilead researchers have developed therapies that are leading the global response to HIV. And, thanks to incredible progress in HIV treatment research and access planning, effective treatments that suppress viral replication are now broadly available. This includes advancements such as modern once-daily single tablet regimens and long-acting injectable options that enable individuals who are taking and staying on treatment to lead healthier lives.

These innovations, which are designed to help meet the evolving needs and preferences of diverse communities impacted by the virus aim to help improve antiretroviral treatment outcomes and engagement in care.

Nevertheless, HIV persists as a serious public health challenge. We recognize that ending the epidemic requires close partnership with the HIV community. By exploring how our medicines work in communities shouldering a disproportionate burden of the epidemic and advancing innovative treatment strategies that could drive more equitable and comprehensive access to HIV care, our goal is to bring forward effective therapy options to everyone who needs them.

Many strategies are necessary to overcome HIV, and it will be impossible to end the epidemic without bringing HIV treatment to all who need it. The scientific community has made incredible progress with the development of effective HIV treatments that help people with the virus to lead healthier lives by providing virologic suppression, which can eliminate the risk of transmitting HIV. At the same time, not everyone is achieving long-term HIV treatment success.

Less than three-quarters of people living with HIV globally are virally suppressed. Closing the HIV treatment gap must be a top global priority to eradicate the disease. Long-term success includes selecting the right treatment to prioritize long-term outcomes from the beginning. The HIV treatment landscape is evolving. People with HIV are living healthier lives.

Each person has different day-to-day treatment needs and preferences. There is no “one size fits all” approach. The complexities of HIV care require person-centered innovations that put people at the center of developing new therapies as we keep striving to offer options for all those living with HIV. These evolving needs propel our research teams at Gilead.

HIV treatment and prevention are entering a new era where more therapeutic options are emerging for people living with HIV and those who need or want PrEP.

Once-daily single tablet regimens have helped redefine the outlook for many people living with HIV. Yet significant gaps in care and access still remain, and daily pills may not be appropriate for every person living with HIV. Some people face challenges with adherence, and some people need more complex regimens to treat their HIV.

Our goal is to discover and develop innovative medicines that can meet the needs of every person living with HIV. We believe the next wave of innovation to achieve this goal includes long-acting options that could help address these differentiated needs and preferences of diverse individuals and communities affected by the epidemic.

Curing HIV remains the ultimate aspiration of Gilead’s HIV research and development efforts.

While HIV treatment has advanced dramatically over the past three decades, antiretroviral therapy (ART) remains the standard of care. And while ART suppresses HIV, it does not eradicate the viral reservoir in which HIV can remain dormant, so stopping treatment causes viral rebound. This means people living with HIV require lifelong therapy to treat their HIV.

For more than 15 years, Gilead has been leading work with academic and government partners, community advisers and research teams to drive progress towards an efficacious, accessible and scalable cure for HIV as part of our focus on person-centric innovation.

Our efforts toward a cure are beginning to show incremental and impactful progress. Our studies feature a “clear and control” approach aimed at clearing or reducing the HIV reservoir in a person’s cells, and then using the person’s immune system to control any remaining HIV. These studies’ regimens aim to deliver prolonged periods for people with HIV to safely live without ART. More importantly for long-term progress in the cure field, the studies will also help inform what is needed for advancing the ultimate goal: a cure for every person living with HIV.

We know it will take more than medicine alone to end the HIV epidemic for everyone, everywhere.

The social, cultural and structural barriers that exist in our world need to be addressed as part of global HIV elimination efforts. We have a long history of working alongside the HIV community to achieve more equitable access to HIV care and services. Our cutting-edge research programs focus on the needs of people who are disproportionately impacted by HIV and who have been and traditionally underrepresented in studies. And through unique partnerships and access programs, we're working to improve HIV treatment and prevention education, support systems and policies that help facilitate broader uptake of medications and eliminate stigma and other barriers to care.

Today we are one of the largest private funders of non-profit HIV programs in the world. However, our work won’t be complete until we have helped to improve the lives of all the people and communities impacted by HIV.