He will also pay a 3 million yuan ($429,000) fine and be banned from reproductive medicine for life. His co-workers, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, will also receive prison terms of two years and 18 months, respectively, on top of fines and bans. There were a total of ten authors on the scientific paper released by the team, but it’s not clear if others will be penalized, as well. (Much of the information about the trial is unverifiable except through Chinese state sources.)

According to the judgement, He and his colleagues conspired in 2016 to edit the CCR5 gene in a way that could make humans resistant to the HIV virus. The team assisted with the reproduction for “multiple couples of HIV-infected persons,” according to Xinhua. After editing the embryos, they were implanted into two women, who eventually gave birth to three gene-edited babies. The trial marks the first time Chinese authorities have acknowledged the presence of a third gene-edited baby.

The court noted that the gene editing technique had not been “verified for safety and effectiveness,” and that He and others forged documents to convince patients and doctors to help. The team reportedly told patients that they were part of an AIDS vaccine trial, not genetic modifications. Shortly after He revealed the CRISPR trials, experts condemned it as “unconscionable” and “immoral and unethical.” Soon afterwards, Chinese authorities opened an investigation and eventually detained He.

GLAAD said it contacted Facebook’s public policy team and reached out to five fact-checking agencies, but the social network answered by pointing to a public ad policy page explaining why ads can be removed. In response, GLAAD posted an open letter asking Facebook to remove the ads, with support coming from 50 organizations, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Senator Elizabeth Warren. The advocacy group is buying ads on Facebook to promote the letter among the LGBTQ+ community.

We’ve asked Facebook for comment.

The ads are likely just attempts to spur lawsuits against Truvada’s manufacturer, Gilead. However, there’s a concern that they could do serious harm by discouraging the use of preventative drugs and spreading HIV. They also illustrate Facebook’s mixed track record in supporting LGBTQ+ people. While Facebook has become more inclusive with changes to its real name policy and support for custom gender identities, it has also drawn fire for inadvertently blocking LGBTQ+ ads and claims that it’s lax on removing homophobic material. Simply put, the ads questioning Truvada are eroding an already fragile sense of trust.

The medicine includes four recommended antiretroviral drugs and doesn’t require refrigeration — important in Africa, where warm temperatures and inconsistent electricity are frequently issues.

Crucially, it’s relatively inexpensive. Quadrimune will cost less than $1 per day for a child between 20 to 30 pounds, and 50 cents per day for younger children. While that would still be a stiff price for many families affected by HIV (it might even exceed their yearly income), that combined with the easy-to-swallow design could put the medicine within reach of many more people and save thousands of lives.

The FDA is reviewing Quadrimune and could tentatively approve it in 2020. It’s not as necessary in the US when children are less likely to contract HIV from their mothers, but that approval could be a key step to wider distribution. It’s safe to say that it’ll be eagerly anticipated. Unless there’s a cure for HIV, medication like this could be vital to halting the viruses’ spread.