“We were able, with the antibodies, to suppress the viral loads of viremic patients — patients that are HIV infected, but that aren’t treated,” says Florian Klein, co-author of the study published inNature today, and an immunologist at Rockefeller University in New York.

There are more than 1.2 million people living with HIV in the US, according to the CDC. In 2013, 47,300 people living in the country were diagnosed with HIV. For people who know of their condition — and can afford treatment — taking antiretroviral drugs is usually the only option. These drugs are designed to control the infection by preventing the growth of the virus and reducing its presence in the blood of those who are infected. Unfortunately, they need to be taken every day for the rest of a person’s life. They can also be pretty harsh on the body; some people experience nerve damage, for instance. To address this issue, researchers have been looking at the antibodies that HIV patients produce naturally to fight the disease upon infection. And one antibody, in particular, stands out. Its name is 3BNC117.

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