Scientists, led by Oregon Health & Science University researchers, have discovered that combining three HIV therapies shortly after exposure can completely clear the virus in newborn nonhuman primates.

"The surprising result could pave the way for a one-time treatment that prevents newly infected babies from needing lifelong HIV medication," according to the study reported by Science Daily.

In newborn nonhuman primates treated within three days of exposure, the regimen—standard antiretroviral drugs, broadly neutralizing antibodies, and the experimental antibody leronlimab—completely cleared the virus, even though none of the treatments could do so alone.

More than 120,000 babies around the world acquire HIV each year. For millions of people living with the virus, controlling the infection means taking treatment for life, provided those medications are accessible and affordable.

The findings were published in Nature Microbiology.

"The really exciting part is that it could go to clinical trials immediately to eliminate HIV infection in newborns," said co-lead author Jonah Sacha, Ph.D., professor and chief of pathobiology and immunology at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center and Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. "The next step after that is to test if this can work in newly exposed adults."

The work brought together numerous collaborators and involved nonhuman primates at both the Oregon and California national primate research centers.