amfAR donates $800,000 to finding AIDS cure

Three teams working on potential possibilities for curing the AIDS virus will split grants. (Washington Blade file photo by Doug Hinckle)

WASHINGTON — The Foundation for AIDS Research has invested in three efforts to cure AIDS, according to POZ Magazine.

The three grants are going to teams that are studying cases that have shown promise in terms of eradicating the virus that causes AIDS. Recipients include a team studying the effect of an FDA-approved drug used for treating alcoholism that has shown an ability to get dormant virus cells out of latency, enabling HIV drugs to better attack the virus. A second team is researching two cases similar to the case known as the “Berlin Patient,” in which a man undergoing a cancer treatment has shown signs the virus has been eradicated from his system. A third recipient team is studying adolescents born with HIV who now test HIV negative after being put on AIDS drugs shortly after birth.