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Peer Insights: Hear From Peers Who Treat HIV

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Living With HIV Today

Contents

Transcript

(0:00)
Introduction
(0:26)
Looking Back on HIV
(2:29)
The Importance of Education
(3:52)
Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U)

[Crew member audio] Alright Charles. And go, and here we go, camera set, pictures up, and everyone ready, and, action!

[On-screen] This video contains the personal views, opinions, and experiences of the featured healthcare providers (HCPs). The HCPs have been compensated by Gilead for participating in this video.

[On-screen] HIV LEADERS UP CLOSE

[On-screen] “Living with HIV Today”
Lisa Spacek: I'm so excited to be here. I really think that the changes that have happened in HIV care and therapy are something that we need to sit down and think about, and remember from where we've come.

[On-screen] Lisa Spacek, MD
Philadelphia, PA
Theo Hodge, MD
Washington, DC

Looking Back on HIV [0:26]

June Gipson: So Lisa, over the past 40 years, how has it changed for you?

[On-screen] June Gipson, PhD, EdS
Jackson, MS

Lisa Spacek: It's changed quite a bit, but in some ways it's stayed exactly the same.

[On-screen] 1981: HIV is first reported in the US by the CDC.1

1987: The first antiretroviral therapy is FDA approved to treat HIV.1

2006: The first single-tablet regimen ART is FDA approved to treat HIV.2

ART, antiretroviral therapy; CDC, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; FDA, US Food and Drug Administration.

Lisa Spacek: And I think that the important work that brought me to the space of HIV is something that's been consistent, because of the way that HIV profoundly changes people's lives. And the idea that 40 years ago we managed so many toxicities, side effects of medication, trying to take medicines around different mealtimes, and how we do it today is a phenomenal difference.

Theo Hodge: As our treatments have evolved, we actually can tailor therapy to the patient, because they have options. Now remember, in 1996, there was no options. No, you took what you had and you had to do with what you had that we did the best we had with what we had.

June Gipson: And I would say with the evolution of the medication, it feels as if it's almost addressing the social determinants of health. Because I remember when you had to eat, you had to have food. And there were times when people, they didn't have food. And so you're pretty much balancing out your life on how you're going to feel that day with medication.

And so when you create medications that can make it easy for a person in their life, because mind you, the people that I deal with, they're already encountering poverty, their homelessness, there's so many other factors that's impacting their lives. But once you have these choices where you can actually get medication the way that you want to get the medication, and it's not creating side effects that prevent you from working, going to school, you can live a long, healthy life.

[On-screen] When taken as prescribed, HIV medications can help people with HIV to live longer, healthier lives.3

Lisa Spacek: I really want to pick up on that, June, because I remember when it was said, “We're not going to die with this. We're going to live with this.”

The Importance of Education [2:29]

June Gipson: Education is so important. I like to liken that to when you get on the airplane, and if you've flown before you know the message, put your seatbelt on. If we lose oxygen, this is going to drop down. It's the same message. And if you've flown for a long time, it's like you know the message. But you also have to keep in mind, it's always someone's first time.

Theo Hodge: Who doesn't know the message.

June Gipson: Who doesn't know. And so because we're going to always have someone who doesn't know about HIV, doesn't understand HIV, that doesn't understand implications of HIV. We have to keep the education going.

Theo Hodge: And you're right, education, education, education. That's the only way to get through the stigma. I mean, that is how you disperse stigma is with education.

Lisa Spacek: We go for it.

Theo Hodge: Yes, we do that! We do it!

Lisa Spacek: We go for it in HIV, because we can. And that makes it all work out so much better. So what we've seen is medications that are good long-term solutions. We've seen that medication regimens are simplified. So we've really moved from a time when we've had to bring so many resources to bear and now we still do, but in a different way, with medications that aren't as toxic, aren't as complicated, fewer pills, all that has made it a different practice.

Theo Hodge: So let's talk about U=U.

Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) [3:52]

Theo Hodge: Lisa, could you explain that for our audience and give us some context of how that has impacted your patient practice?

Lisa Spacek: So U=U means undetectable is untransmittable. And what that means is that if a patient or a person achieves viral suppression for 6 months, they're no longer able to transmit HIV to another person. That means that the person who's living with HIV doesn't feel infectious and they don't feel like they could be harmful to another person. I was so happy to be able to tell that to people, because once I started to explain it, I almost felt like some people looked lighter.

[On-screen] According to the DHHS guidelines, getting to and staying undetectable (viral load <200 copies/mL) for at least 6 months prevents sexual transmission of HIV.4

DHHS, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Theo Hodge: It really did.

Lisa Spacek: The burden and the weight of feeling like you could hurt somebody was so hard. And the idea that infectious diseases are infectious diseases, it's the nature of the work of infectious disease practitioners and the truth of transmission of viruses. U=U changes that. It changes that completely. The idea of not being transmittable brings us to the idea that we really can end the HIV epidemic.

[On-screen] The Ending the HIV Epidemic in the US (EHE) initiative focuses on 4 key strategies that, implemented together, aim to reduce new HIV infections by 90% by 20305:

DIAGNOSE all people with HIV as early as possible.

TREAT people with HIV rapidly and effectively to reach sustained viral suppression.

PREVENT new HIV transmissions by using proven interventions, including PrEP and syringe services programs.

RESPOND quickly to potential HIV outbreaks to get needed prevention and treatment services to people who need them.

PrEP, pre-exposure prophylaxis.

[On-screen] References: 1. National Institutes of Health. Progress against HIV/AIDS timeline. Reviewed August 23, 2024. Accessed November 11, 2024. https://www.oar.nih.gov/about/progress-against-hivaids-timeline 2. US Food and Drug Administration. The history of FDA's role in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Reviewed March 14, 2019. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-history-exhibits/history-fdas-role-preventing-spread-hivaids 3. MedlineLine Plus. Living with HIV. Updated July 16, 2024. Accessed December 31, 2024. https://medlineplus.gov/livingwithhiv.html 4. Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents. Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in Adults and Adolescents With HIV. Department of Health and Human Services. Updated September 12, 2024. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://clinicalinfo.hiv.gov/sites/default/files/guidelines/documents/adult-adolescent-arv/guidelines-adult-adolescent-arv.pdf 5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ending the HIV Epidemic in the US Goals. Published March 20, 2024. Accessed November 11, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/ehe/php/about/goals.html

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© 2025 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. US-UNBP-2923 03/25

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