Washington, Dec 3 (IANS)

President Barack Obama announced Monday the US will shift $100 million into research efforts in the next three years aimed at curing HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).

Obama launched the HIV Cure Initiative at a White House event to mark the World AIDS Day, which was observed Sunday, Xinhua reported.

"Today I'm pleased to announce a new initiative at the National Institutes of Health to advance research into an HIV cure. We're going to redirect 100 million dollars into this project to develop a new generation of therapies," Obama said.

He said the US should be at the forefront of new discoveries into how to put HIV into long-term remission without requiring lifelong therapies or eliminate it completely.

According to a White House statement, although several individuals appear recently to have been cured of HIV through aggressive therapy, these approaches are "too toxic or premature to apply beyond the research setting".

However, these cases provide clues to explore for possible new treatments and this new investment will catalyse further research into this area, and could lead to a new generation of therapies to improve outcomes for people living with HIV, the statement added.