New hope for the fight against HIV / AIDS

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft software company (US), has invested $ 140 million in efforts to develop small devices that can be implanted in humans and injections to prevent HIV.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hope the device is being developed by Intarcia Therapeutics Inc. Biotechnology Company. (US) development can help revolutionize the fight against the disease of the century.

Current anti-HIV drugs are all pellets that, if taken daily, can reduce the risk of infection with life-threatening viruses. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends high-risk groups to use this drug, but it is only effective if used regularly.

A factory of Intarcia Company in California state.THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

However, the reality is not easy to convince healthy people to take medicine every day. Therefore, Intarcia equipment becomes attractive because it can provide regular medicine for users in 6-12 months. Doctors can easily add medicine to the device every time they are used up.

Despite the progress made in the efforts to fight HIV / AIDS in the past two decades, there are still about 1.9 million new infections each year, according to estimates of the United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS.

Emilio Emini, HIV Program Manager at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, warned that without effective prevention, the figure would only increase, not decrease.

According to The Wall Street Journal, that's why the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spent $ 50 million to buy shares of Intarcia as well as donate $ 90 million to help them conquer the goal of successful development of the device and make sure it works. Intarcia has now developed a version of the device that can be implanted in diabetic patients and is expected to be available later this year.