Announcing Our New $120M Abundance And Growth Fund | Open Philanthropy We are excited to announce the launch of our new Abundance and Growth Fund, which will spend at least $120 million over the next three years to accelerate economic growth and boost scientific and tech...

The Abundance and Growth Fund at Open Philanthropy is hiring! We’re looking for 2-4 people to help expand this new $120+ million program to accelerate economic growth and reduce the cost of living through strategic grantmaking and research. (1/4) www.openphilanthropy.org/research/ann...

Periodic reminder of this article by @jacobtref.bsky.social: blog.jacobtrefethen.com/10-technolog...

The end of tuberculosis that wasn’t In the 1980s, many thought tuberculosis was on the path to elimination. In reality, more were dying from the disease than ever.

In the 1980s, many thought tuberculosis was on the path to elimination. In reality, more were dying from the disease than ever.

The second article in our series on Tuberculosis: ourworldindata.org/the-end-of-t...

I am thankful every day for the work of scientists working to cure HIV/AIDS. We come such a long way.

I lost some amazing people to AIDS and they are missed every single day. I am so happy that this heartbreak can now be avoided thanks to these antivirals.

I still have hope for a cure one day.

Excellent piece on some of the scientists behind lenacapavir, the HIV antiviral that could be scaled up to change the course of the HIV epidemic worldwide.

Great article on the origins of lenacapavir, the amazingly effective HIV prevention drug approved by the FDA last week:
bsky.app/profile/sta...

See, it only takes two weeks to finish, and then you're free... free to start the follow on reading... Go on, why not start listening today... 😈

open.spotify.com/show/7CgKi9l...

Listen to Saloni’s podcast if you want a 5hr drug discovery overview so good it made me cry at multiple points

Ten Drugs, Blockbuster Drugs, and Laughing Gas, Viagra, and Lipitor are fun to dip into too. Relatively separable/digestible chapter stories, not too technical.

(So glad you liked the episode!)

HIV protection with just two shots a year: FDA approves Gilead drug A new twice-yearly shot could be a "game changer" in the fight against AIDS, but experts' hopes have dimmed because of the current political climate.

U.S. FDA approves #lenacapavir (to be sold as Yeztugo), a twice-a-year shot hailed as the closest thing the field has ever had to a #HIV vaccine, by @jasonmast.bsky.social, Ed Silverman www.statnews.com/2025/06/18/f... via @statnews.com #AIDS

FDA approves new twice-yearly HIV shot. What to know The FDA approved Gilead's HIV prevention drug lenacapavir, a twice-a-year injectable medication that clinical trials show prevents new infections.

A bit of positive news today. FDA has just approved Lenacapavir for PrEP in the US. In clinical trials one injection every 6 months was close to 100% effective in preventing HIV transmission.
PrEP is for everyone who needs it.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/h...

Regulators Approve a Twice-Yearly Shot to Prevent H.I.V. Infection

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...

🚨🚨 Lenacapavir FDA approved today, twice-yearly shot preventing HIV 🚨🚨

It's now possible to drive down transmission everywhere, and win against the AIDS epidemic, with other long-lasting drugs in trials too

Here's the story of how scientists got here, 44 years of hard work:

What’s the return on government support for R&D?

To try to get a credible answer, Open Philanthropy and the Sloan Foundation are committing up to $1 million to trying something new: we call it a Pop-Up Journal.

I take everything back at [3:13:03] @scientificdiscovery.dev once again starts spreading anti-grapefruit propaganda. It’s the greatest fruit out there!!! Don’t let concerns about interactions with *checks notes* pretty much any medication get in between you and grapefruits!

If little funny anecdotes have a million fans, I am one.
If funny asides have one fan, it is me.
If little funny anecdotes and asides have no fans, I am dead.

Great video from @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social on PEPFAR and the Global Fund, and the stakes of HIV/AIDS funding:

I assume many people working in medical research fantasise about talking to Saloni Dattani. I assume that because I did, after reading Saloni's writing and listening to her interviews. Now, I thought, there is someone who focuses on issues that matter and pays attention to the details! Someone who's not trying to sell me something. What does she think, I wondered, a saner world should focus its attention on? And what would she think of my own little answers to that question? I was down so bad I once thought about a graph Saloni made for a year. Another time, she made an offhand comment that I should start a blog, and now you're reading these words. (Other friends encouraged me on that one too. Thanks, e.g., Joe and Casey.) Here I am telling you that I, now, do get to talk to Saloni Dattani about medical research. Not just in my head! We live in different places, but one of my favourite things to do when Saloni comes out West is walk, and when I go back to England, talk.

I feel like I'm in this situation where I have talented friends that I love and respect so much that it surprises me to learn that they seem to feel the same way 🥺
blog.jacobtrefethen.com/lenacapavir/

Lenacapavir: The miracle drug that could end AIDS Hard Drugs · Episode

#Lenacapavir: The miracle drug that could end #AIDS. The new #HIV drug blocks infections with an efficacy rate of nearly 100%. The "Hard Drugs" podcast w/ @scientificdiscovery.dev @jacobtref.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/4nIj...

So glad you liked it!

This was an incredibly interesting story about how amazing it is we now have a treatment for HIV, and the complexities of drug development. It is basically 5 episodes of an hour released at once. Extremely educational - haven't listened to anything where I learned so much in 5 hours in a while!

unironically, i think putting out long form content like this is the real ballsy resistance to the fragmentation of attention. long stuff reminds people there's something to get from paying sustained attention.

this was excellent. a highly recommended way to spend 5 hours.

blushing!

Lenacapavir and Thom Gunn I assume many people working in medical research fantasise about talking to Saloni Dattani. I assume that because I did, after reading Saloni's writing and listening to her interviews. Now, I thought,...

New post, this time poetry instead of science: blog.jacobtrefethen.com/lenacapavir/

i'm listening to the saloni and jacob podcast, so far what ive gathered is that an enzyme is a protein with a particularly stressful job

Just finished listening to all of the nearly 5 hour long podcast! Brilliant, majestic and expansive - loved the explanation of some of the very advanced scientific concepts in terms I could relate to as a person with no advanced degrees in biology.

Of all the nice reviews we've had to our podcast, this was the one that made me truly feel "mission accomplished" 🥹

YouTube video by Works in Progress Podcasts The miracle drug that could end AIDS

This is a super long video, but i'm really proud to have worked on it. It's @worksinprogress.bsky.social's new podcast Hard Drugs - and this episode is all about a potential breakthrough in HIV prevention - the new drug Lenacapavir.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVhi...

glad you liked it!

Science is never more amazing than when it promises eradication of diseases.

Really enjoyed Hard Drugs, the first @worksinprogress.bsky.social podcast. Give these guys a listen!