Contacts: Mitchell Warren, +1 914-661-1536, mitchell@avac.

org

New York, May 12, 2011 – Today the sponsors of a trial evaluating combination antiretroviral therapy
for HIV prevention announced that the trial would halt randomization due to overwhelming evidence of
benefit.

"We now have evidence from a randomized trial confirming what has been seen in observational
settings; ARV treatment is prevention," said AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren. "These data must
serve as a clarion call to funders, policy makers, civil society and implementers. HPTN 052 shows a
prevention benefit that must be translated into programmatic reality. If deployed effectively, efficiently
and ethically, earlyinitiation of treatment will be fundamental to turning the tide of the epidemic.”

The clinical trial, known as HPTN 052, is a large, multi-site, randomized trial designed to determine the
effectiveness of two treatment strategies in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV in HIV-
serodiscordant couples.Nearly 1,800 HIV-serodiscordant couples from four continents are participating
in the trial. In a scheduled review of interim date, the trial’s independent Data Safety and Monitoring
Board (DSMB) found clear evidence that providing antiretroviral therapy to the HIV-infected partner
significantly reduced the risk of transmitting HIV to their uninfected partner.

“Today's result should be viewed in light of other recent findings from trials using ARVs for prevention,”
said Warren. “The recent results from the iPrEx trial showed that PrEP is effective in gay men and
transgender women, while the CAPRISA 004 microbicide trial showed the of 1% tenofovir gel is effective
at reducing HIV risk for women.”

“Together, these results allow us to imagine a world in which men and women seek HIV testing with the
knowledge and confidence that they will receive a range of highly effective options for staying healthy
and protecting themselves and their partners—whateverthe test result,“ Warren added.

“The financial, human and technical resources needed to translate the HPTN 052 trial finding into a
public health breakthrough on a national or global level will not come overnight. And ARVs alone will not
solve the epidemic,” said Warren. “Existing prevention tools including male and female condoms,
syringe exchange, male circumcision, behavior change programming, and HIV testing, remain critical as
do structural interventions, stigma reduction initiatives and comprehensive care and treatment
programs. We also still need to maintain and build on the momentum of other recent biomedical
research results into vaccines, microbicides and PrEP.”

“Realizing this vision will require substantial resources. Today's data must spur all engaged in fighting
AIDS to think bigger and more ambitiously than ever before. Today, many AIDS care, treatment and
prevention programs are rationing funds and being asked to do more with less every year. We must
strategize for greatly expanded resources over the long-term,” said Warren.“The upcoming UN High
Level Meeting on AIDS should set treatment and prevention targets that take the HPTN 052 results into
account. At the same time, we need to start critical discussions and come to quick decisions about
where and how to deploy treatment as prevention in the short-term.”

“Now is the best time to invest in an expanded response to the AIDS epidemic. AVAC stands with the
global community of advocates for HIV prevention, treatment, research and implementation to expect
and demand an extraordinary response to this unprecedented epidemic,” Warren added.
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About AVAC: Founded in 1995, AVAC is a non-profit organization that uses education, policy analysis,
advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global
delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention
options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.