HIV is no longer a death sentence. BIKTARVY and other treatments enable long, healthy lives. Yet the stigma that surrounds HIV remains—a sense of shame so profound it prevents people from seeking the treatment they need: ~40% of people living with HIV in the U.S. are not in care.

BIKTARVY needed to change the way people felt about their diagnosis and inspire them to live their truth. We found 6 amazing people living and thriving on BIKTARVY. Their realness and honesty create an emotional connection that allows viewers to see themselves as deserving of treatment.

Ruben and the Dark, “What a Wonderful World.”

Few songs reach as deeply into what it means to be human than “What a Wonderful World.” It’s about everything that connects us on this small, beautiful planet.

This feeling of connection and humanity is often lost, abruptly, with an HIV positive diagnosis. Restoring this feeling was key to the BIKTARVY Real Patients campaign.

The song is a standard, with Louis Armstrong’s version, recorded more than 50 years ago, perhaps the best known. But it appeals to every generation and today’s version is by Ruben and the Dark.

The singer aches with longing to become part of the world he sings about. A feeling familiar to our HIV-positive audience. But as the song quickens and the music drives, the feeling becomes triumphant. It echoes the experience of overcoming a diagnosis to once again be part of the wonderful world all around us.