Topic Guide
HIV Blood Policy and Cure Research
Short answer
HIV history includes care law, blood-donation reform and proof-of-principle cure cases as well as activism and prevention.
- Status
- reviewed
- Reviewed
- 4 June 2026
- Sources
- 7
- High trust
- 7
Curated Routes
Appears in these journeys
Use a journey when you want to keep reading through a connected route.
Overview
The Ryan White CARE Act built a major US care programme in the wake of AIDS discrimination. UK blood-donation policy began moving away from blanket lifetime exclusion for men who have sex with men in 2011. Timothy Ray Brown and Adam Castillejo then showed that HIV cure was scientifically possible in rare stem-cell transplant cases, reshaping cure research even though the approach is not widely applicable.
Policy and access
Care funding and blood-donation reform show how HIV policy had to respond to both medical evidence and stigma.
Cure proof points
The Berlin Patient and London Patient cases changed the scientific imagination of HIV cure research.
Key Timeline Events
Ryan White CARE Act Signed into Law
President George H.W. Bush signed the Ryan White CARE Act, creating the largest federally funded programme for people living with HIV/AIDS. Named for Ryan White, a young haemophiliac who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion and became a national figure fighting AIDS-related discrimination, White had died four months earlier aged 18. At the time, over 150,000 AIDS cases had been reported in the US.
Ban on Blood Donations for Gay/Bi Men Lifted
The lifetime ban on blood donations for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men was lifted in 2011, though a 12-month abstinence clause remained in place. While the change acknowledged that a blanket ban was disproportionate, critics argued that the deferral period still unfairly singled out MSM regardless of individual risk.
Timothy Ray Brown Becomes First Person Cured of HIV
Timothy Ray Brown, known as 'The Berlin Patient', became the first person cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor with two copies of the CCR5-delta32 mutation, which confers natural resistance to HIV. Brown stopped antiretroviral medication and HIV became undetectable. He revealed his identity publicly in 2010 and remained HIV-free until his death from leukaemia in September 2020.
Adam Castillejo Confirmed as Second Person Cured of HIV
Adam Castillejo, a British-Venezuelan man known as 'The London Patient', was confirmed as the second person cured of HIV after a bone marrow transplant from a donor carrying the CCR5-delta32 mutation. He had stopped antiretroviral medication in 2017 and remained HIV-free. Castillejo publicly revealed his identity in March 2020, saying he wanted to be 'an ambassador of hope'.
