ORLANDO, Fla. — Twenty years ago, HIV was considered a death sentence. But now, clinical trials in Orlando have made it easier for many to live undetectably, giving them healthier and more productive lives. 

At the Orlando Immunology Center, Research Director Dr. Charlotte-Paige Rolle is laser-focused on improving the lives of those living with HIV. Currently, her research is centered around clinical trials of new long-acting HIV medications.

“So, for treatment right now, the way long-acting drugs work is they are simply long-acting versions of drug classes that are already used to treat HIV. If we think about Cabenuva, and the two drugs that are in Cabenuva, one belongs to the integrase class and one belongs to the non-nuc class," said Rolle. 

Cabenuva is an antiretroviral medication for the treatment of HIV and AIDS.

For patients like Ida Starks, who has had HIV for the last 23 years, these drugs are proving to be life-changing.

She checks in with her physician at the Orlando Immunology Center, Dr. Federico Hinestrosa, who gives her injections of Cabenuva, with one in each hip every two months. That keeps her undetectable.

“I got your labs. I don't know if you saw them already, they came back really good, they came back really good, your sugar, your kidney function, your liver enzymes are doing really good,” said Hinestrosa.

It is a big change, as two decades ago patients were taking 30 pills a day. Bur Rolle says this is just the beginning.

“Our field is constantly trying to figure out how can we do better for patients, we are never satisfied with the status quo and that is why I love being in research because the status quo is never good enough in research,” said Rolle. 

Next, she says they are working on testing more long-acting oral drug options since many patients don’t want to be injected.

“Many patients are very challenged still by taking a once a day oral pill that has posed inconvenience for many patients, patients still have to go to the pharmacy to pick that up, swallowing the pill constantly reminds them of their HIV status, it serves a source of stigma for many of our patients,” said Rolle. 

With these trials as stepping stones, their end goal is to find a cure for HIV all together.

“It has just been one of many steps along the way to a cure but that is always going to be at the forefront at the hearts of HIV researchers, I speak for myself personally when I say that that is my goal and again I think that we are getting closer and closer,” said  Rolle. “Innovating for future therapy has been particularly exciting and I think that the best is still yet to come honestly for our patients.”

Rolle explained that Orlando Immunology Center has some exciting cure studies that are currently enrolling and recruiting patients that all involve trying to retrain or re-modulate the immune system in some way.