What is a Therapeutic HIV Vaccine?
Key Points
- When available, a therapeutic HIV vaccine will be given to people with HIV to improve the body’s immune response to the virus.
- Currently, no HIV vaccine of any kind has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but scientists are pursuing innovative strategies to design an HIV vaccine. You must be enrolled in a clinical trial to receive a therapeutic HIV vaccine (see more details below).
- Researchers are exploring therapeutic HIV vaccines to achieve HIV remission or a functional cure, keeping viral load suppressed without the need for antiretroviral therapy (ART).
What is a therapeutic HIV vaccine?
A therapeutic HIV vaccine is a vaccine that is designed to improve the body’s immune response to HIV in a person who already has HIV.
In 2012, a therapeutic HIV vaccine called Vacc-4x showed that it may be possible to teach the immune system to control HIV in some people with HIV and reduce their viral load.
Researchers are developing and testing therapeutic HIV vaccines to achieve HIV remission or a functional cure. The goal is that treating people with these vaccines would keep HIV at undetectable levels (known as undetectable viral load) without the need for regular antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART is the recommended treatment for HIV infection and involves using a combination of different HIV medicines to prevent HIV from multiplying. Currently, a person with HIV must remain on ART to keep HIV at undetectable levels.
In summary, researchers are exploring the use of therapeutic HIV vaccines to:
- Slow down the progress of HIV infection in people with HIV.
- Achieve HIV remission, also called a functional cure (keeping viral load suppressed without the need for ART).
As an added benefit, a therapeutic HIV vaccine may also make it less likely that a person with HIV could transmit HIV to others.
Are there any FDA-approved therapeutic HIV vaccines?
After almost four decades of research, there are currently no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapeutic HIV vaccines. However, scientists are pursuing innovative strategies to design an HIV vaccine to prevent or treat HIV infection. You must be enrolled in a clinical trial to receive an experimental HIV vaccine (see more details below).
How is a therapeutic HIV vaccine different from a preventive HIV vaccine?
The goal of a preventive HIV vaccine is to prevent people from getting HIV. When available, it will be given to people who do not have HIV. To learn more, read the HIVinfo What is a Preventive HIV Vaccine? fact sheet.
A therapeutic HIV vaccine is for people who already have HIV. The goal of a therapeutic HIV vaccine is to strengthen the natural immune response to the HIV that is already in people with HIV.
Where can a person get more information about clinical trials studying therapeutic HIV vaccines?
An online database of clinical trials on therapeutic HIV vaccines is available from the ClinicalTrials.gov study summaries. Click on the title of any trial in the list to see more information about the study.
If you are interested in participating in a vaccine study, you can also contact the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center by calling 866-833-LIFE (5433) or by emailing vaccines@nih.gov.
To learn more, read the HIVinfo fact sheet on HIV and AIDS Clinical Trials.
This fact sheet is based on information from the following sources:
From the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases:
- Clinical trial of HIV vaccine begins in United States and South Africa (September 20, 2023)
From the HIV Vaccine Trials Network:
Also see the HIV Source collection of HIV links and resources.