• LGBTQ Nation: An HIV expert at the University of California, San Francisco, presented evidence this week of a major advance in the search for a “functional cure” for HIV infection.
After a single infusion of immune cells engineered to recognize HIV, the virus in two study participants was suppressed to undetectable levels.
• OUT: Broadway daddy Jim Newman (Hands on a Hardbody, Curtains, Minnelli on Minnelli, Steep Pier, Sunset Boulevard, and The Who’s Tommy) is back on the Great White Way with the revival of Mamma Mia!
Sebastian Lletget (image via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • Pink News: Major League Soccer has launched an investigation into LA Galaxy’s Sebastian Lletget (above) over a homophobic slur in a video he posted to Instagram. • Washington Blade: President Biden called for ramping up funds in the first year of his administration to beat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. In his initial budget request to Congress, he signaled he would continue the PrEP-centric initiative that began in the previous administration. • Metrosource: The new hardcover book, On Fire: The Firefighters of France, is a curated collection of the best portraits and smoking shots from the wildly popular French firefighter calendars, personally selected by creator Fred Goudon. https://www.instagram.com/p/CL2IgpiM8g5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • AP News: After promoting doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine made using the previously experimental messenger RNA, or mRNA, process, a top Chinese health official publicly admitted Chinese COVID-19 vaccines aren’t very effective saying they “don’t have very high protection rates.” • Wichita Eagle: Kansas Senate Republicans ousted Sen. Gene Suellentrop as majority leader Friday after he was charged with leading police on a drunken 90 mile an hour, wrong-way chase down Interstate 70. • HIVPlus Mag: A potential HIV vaccine is showing very promising results in Phase I human trials. The vaccine works by stimulating the production of rare immune cells that generate HIV-resistant antibodies. Such a result was found in 97 percent of human participants administered the potential vaccine.
WOW 😳 New HIV vaccine with a 97% antibody response rate in phase I human trials. This is the most effective trial HIV vaccine to date. It is based on the Moderna’s COVID vaccine. COVID tech acceleration could change Rx for cancer & HIV in future. https://t.co/3Nl0UJj6xW