This drug helps manage infections and prevent AIDS, but claims it’s a ‘cure’ are not supported

Social media posts promoting disease cures might sound exciting, but they sometimes promise more than what’s medically possible. The latest? Instagram posts promising to cure AIDS, the disease that develops if HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is untreated.

"New $40K AIDS cure is nearly 100% effective and requires two shots yearly," a Dec. 2 Instagram post said. An image featured a sign with "#Drama Alert" and a globe.

(Screenshot of the Instagram post.)

Though the post doesn’t specify, the two shots per year for HIV treatment that costs around $40,000 may refer to the injectable drug lenacapavir. The Food and Drug Administration approved lenacapavir in 2022 as an effective treatment to prevent HIV infection and to treat those infected, but it has not been declared a cure.

The promise of a cure is hopeful, but misleading.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Sunlenca, the brand name for lenacapavir, is an antiretroviral drug used by people infected with HIV in order to manage the infection.

The claim that lenacapavir is a cure for AIDS is "100% false," Gregg S. Gonsalves, associate professor of epidemiology of microbial diseases at Yale School of Public Health, told PolitiFact. "Once someone is infected, we do not generally have a cure for HIV."

Featured Fact-check

Social Media

stated on December 7, 2024 in posts

“Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was set to testify against Nancy Pelosi for insider trading.”

For preexposure prevention of HIV transmission, not treatment, lenacapavir has been shown to be nearly 100% effective in women when administered every six months as an injection, a study published July 24 found. Another study, published Nov. 27, found lenacapavir prevents 96% of infections among men and other gender groups including transgender women and transgender men. However, the drug has not yet obtained regulatory approval for widespread use to prevent HIV.

Researchers studying the drug found prices "currently reach up to $44,819 per person per year," although the cost could drop as manufacturers seek mass production and increased competition.

"Currently, there is no therapeutic cure for HIV," Sheryl Zwerski, who holds a doctor of mursing practice and directs the Prevention Sciences Program at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told PolitiFact. 

But effective treatment can reduce the amount of HIV in the body. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told PolitiFact that patients should work with a health care team knowledgeable about HIV care to manage their treatment options.

Researchers have had some success with a very small sample of HIV patients diagnosed with cancer who underwent bone marrow ablation — a method used to destroy bone marrow through radiation or anticancer drugs — and a c that replaces unhealthy cells with HIV-resistant cells. Researchers monitoring those patients said the virus did not return.

"But this is not something that has been adapted for real-world use," Gonsalves said.

A Facebook post claimed that a new drug, which only requires two shots yearly, cures AIDS.

The drug mentioned in the post is likely lenacapavir. It has been shown to be nearly 100% effective for preexposure prevention of HIV transmission, not treatment, when given every six months as an injection.

As of now, there is no cure for HIV, so we rate this claim as False.