PORTLAND, OR – Only a handful of people in history have been cured of the HIV virus; three have agreed to kick off landmark research project led by OHSU. Adam Castillejo, Paul Edmonds and Marc Franke, from left to right, are among a tiny number of people cured of HIV. In a new research initiative announced today at Oregon Health & Science University and collaborating institutions, they will participate in a study to ultimately develop a therapy that can be extended to millions of people worldwide. (Courtesy)
Adam Castillejo, Paul Edmonds and Marc Franke live a world apart, yet they share one infinitesimally rare trait: Each of them literally embodies the cure for HIV.
Although HIV can now be managed over a lifetime of antiretroviral therapy, which suppresses the viral load, there is no definitive therapy to entirely rid the body of a virus that affects an estimated 40 million people worldwide — with a tiny number of notable exceptions.
In the coming year, three of them will gather to officially begin a unique scientific collaboration…