From Science.org…
In a push to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, leaders at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are discussing the possibility of a massive shift in investment away from basic research and toward “implementation science”—studies of the most effective way to use existing treatment and prevention tools, such as the breakthrough drug lenacapavir. Science has learned the agency may devote $1 billion—roughly one-third of the agency’s budget for HIV—to the approach. NIH Director Jayanta “Jay” Bhattacharya has said a major push is needed to exploit the promise of lenacapavir, which provides 6 months of protection with a single shot.
The idea has alarmed scientists both inside and outside NIH because basic research that drives HIV treatment, prevention, and cure advances would lose about $800 million annually. Scientists also question whether so much money can be spent responsibly on HIV-related implementation science. The proposal received a critical reception at an ad hoc meeting of the NIH HIV/AIDS Executive Committee (NAEC), which advises the agency’s Office of AIDS Research (OAR), according to the minutes of a 30 July meeting of the committee that Science obtained.