Moving toward a cure

Jon Cohen's article ("Can AIDS Be Cured?" July/August 2010) provided a refreshingly optimistic view regarding the potential to cure HIV infection. As vice president and director of research at amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, I can say we have long shared such optimism. Just as current treatment combines several agents for suppression of the virus, it's likely that a cure will combine many approaches. This thoughtful article helps to dispel the skepticism that hinders progress in this area and highlights the need for sufficient resources and coördinated efforts that will lead to an AIDS cure.
Rowena Johnston
New York, NY

Congratulations to Technology Review for being the first publication to cover the renewed drive to find a cure for AIDS. As executive director of the AIDS Policy Project, I have seen this research accelerate and evolve in just the past two years. However, funding for it has not. The NIH devotes only 3 percent of its AIDS research budget to a cure; it spends nine times more on AIDS vaccines. Money is needed for short pilot studies to test therapies in humans, among other projects. Yet if we can fund the science properly, fast-track therapies ready for clinical trials, and untangle the red tape for researchers, there is a real chance to develop a workable cure in the next several years, instead of the next few decades. And wouldn't that be something?
Kate Krauss
Philadelphia, PA