In 2015, it was reported that around 36.7 million people throughout the world were affected with AIDS, among which 1.1 million were stated as deceased. The majority of AIDS cases were recorded in various African countries followed by India.

A research team from Sanofi have developed ‘broadly neutralizing antibodies’ from around one percent of HIV affected cases, which could successfully destroy the remaining 99 percent of HIV strains. These ‘broadly neutralizing antibodies’ bind to the surface of HIV pathogens termed as ‘spikes’, in order to destroy them.   

Our immune system basically faces difficulty to combat HIV due to its ability of transformation. But the spikes rarely change appearance and are usually identical among varied strains. Hence it would be possible for these special ‘broadly neutralizing antibodies’ to attack different mutations of HIV virus.

This research was equally contributed by the scientists from Harvard Medical School, The Scripps Research Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Gary Nabel, the chief scientific officer of Sanofi stated, “The results were ‘impressive’; they are more potent and have greater breadth than any single naturally occurring antibody that's been discovered; we're getting 99 percent coverage, and getting coverage at very low concentrations of the antibody.”