University of Utah biochemist named one of Time’s most influential people of 2025 – KSL News
2025-04-20T03:07:09Z
A University of Utah professor is being recognized as one of Time’s most influential people for his work in creating lenacapavir, a long-lasting HIV prevention and treatment drug.
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SALT LAKE CITY — What do actress and comedian Kristen Wiig, President Donald Trump, journalist David Muir and a University of Utah biochemistry professor have in common? They were all listed among Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world on Wednesday.
Wesley Sundquist, co-chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the U., is being recognized with his co-recipient, Tomas Cihlar, a virologist for Gilead Sciences, for their work that led to a first-of-its-kind HIV treatment and prevention drug lenacapavir. Time magazine recognized the pair for their decades of work that led to what scientific journal Science called Breakthrough of the Year in 2024: a twice-a-year injectable that has shown a nearly 100% efficacy rate in preventing HIV infection for at-risk individuals.
“I was completely surprised when I got the call,” said Sundquist, “but I feel like I’m representing a lot of people who have worked hard on this project … so it was great (news).”
Sundquist and his biochemistry lab were responsible for their work studying HIV capsids — the protein shell responsible for protecting and releasing the virus’ genetic material — in the late ’90s. They began by studying how HIV is built on a molecular level. They discovered that the capsid’s structure is extremely sensitive, making it an ideal target for disrupting the virus’ ability to infect human cells.
This discovery was passed on to collaborators like Cihlar at biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, who began researching drugs that targeted the HIV capsid. This eventually led to Gilead developing and manufacturing lenacapavir, known as its brand name Sunleca. Similar HIV treatment drugs are taken as a daily pill and work by targeting the virus after it enters the cell, but lenacapavir is a long-acting treatment that only requires an injection every six months and interferes with the infection process at an earlier stage.
Sundquist followed the drug’s development as a consultant through the years. He says his research began as a way to contribute to the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
“I was doing a (postdoctoral program) in Cambridge, England, and then typically you’re hired to run your own lab, and you have to decide what the lab should work on,” said Sunquist. “That was during the time when the death rate from HIV/AIDS was rising dramatically in the U.S., and there wasn’t a clear end in sight. So the science interested me, but it was also clearly going to be a very important medical problem that needed lots of perspectives.”
The death rate from AIDS, the most advanced stage of HIV, has reduced significantly in the U.S. since 1994, when it became the leading cause of death for Americans ages 25 to 44, according to the federal website for HIV. But it still remains a prevalent issue around the world, especially in eastern and southern Africa.
Gilead is working on getting lenacapavir approved to be used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis — or PrEP — to prevent HIV contraction, since it is currently only approved to treat the virus. Clinical trials using the drug as PrEP were conducted in South Africa and Uganda, proving the drug to be successful in preventing HIV infection in almost 100% of at-risk participants, according to Gilead. The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the drug applications under priority review and has a target action date of June 19.
“I think there’s every reason to expect that it will be very, very successful. The clinical trials certainly indicate that,” said Sundquist.
Sundquist doesn’t spend as much time in the lab as he did early on in his career, but he confirmed that the university’s biochemists are still working with the HIV capsid and studying other aspects of what viruses can teach scientists about cells.
While Time’s list of the most influential people in 2025 only formally recognized Sundquist and Cihlar for their work in HIV treatment and prevention, Sundquist says many others contributed to the work.
“Working on hard problems takes time, and it takes support and a lot of people,” he said. “I would say the most important contributions were made by graduate students and postdoctoral (students). … I think that’s important to emphasize that science is a team sport, and Gilead really deserves enormous credit.”
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