World AIDS Day – 1 December 2010: EDCTP joins forces in the fight against HIV/AIDS

01 December 2010

Every year on 1 December, the world comes together in solidarity to raise awareness about HIV. On the 22nd World AIDS Day, the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) expresses its commitment to universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care, acknowledging these as fundamental human rights for all people affected.

According to the 2010 Global Report by the United Nations Joint Programme in HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the number of new infections has fallen by 19% since 1999. Despite this important progress, sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most affected by HIV. An estimate 22.5 million people living with HIV resided in sub-Saharan Africa in 2009 – this represents 68% of the global HIV burden. The association of HIV/AIDS with tuberculosis intensifies this burden. These alarming statistics can change when we all work together.
Source: UNAIDS

Partnership in fighting HIV/AIDS
Clinical trials on HIV/AIDS that are funded by EDCTP join researchers and research institutions from European and African countries. They form large research groups that foster and strengthen collaborations that benefit from each other’s expertise. Additionally, they bring together researchers and funders from European Members States, national research agencies and institutes, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) and the private sector.

EDCTP funding for HIV drugs, vaccines and microbicides
It is crucial to revaluate existing interventions and accelerate the development of new or improved interventions against HIV. In response to this, EDCTP has funded twenty one clinical trial projects for HIV/AIDS drugs, vaccines and microbicides, while actively developing human capacity and infrastructure for conduct of clinical research in many sub-Sahara African countries.

HIV treatment
Trials needed in Africa are those that test regimens with lower overall anti-retroviral treatment (ART) exposure (to reduce cost, complexity and resistance) and those that investigate the optimal times for initiating treatment, and means of monitoring and managing drug use both in children and in adults. EDCTP has funded HIV treatment projects aiming to:

  • Simplify and standardise ARV regimens in adults and children
  • Develop new treatment regimens
  • Treat opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis (TB).

HIV treatment research funded by EDCTP include five multi-centre projects in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Mother to child prevention
EDCTP also supports trials to improve mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). These include four funded projects in Burkina Faso, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

HIV vaccines
Currently there is no effective HIV vaccine for humans among those candidates that have entered studies in humans. In addition, capacity in many African research sites to conduct HIV vaccines trials is limited. Since 2007, EDCTP has provided funding to six projects for capacity development in readiness to conduct vaccine studies in Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

Microbicides
There is an urgent need for effective vaginal microbicides that women can use to protect themselves against HIV infection. Many microbicide trials are ongoing with promising results that need further studies before the products are registered for use in public health programmes. EDCTP provides funding to prepare African sites for future clinical trials to four multi-centre projects in Mozambique, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania.

HIV and TB co-infections
HIV accentuates the TB epidemic and in Africa, it is the single most important factor contributing to the increase in incidence of TB since 1990. EDCTP therefore chose not to work on these two diseases in isolation.

In May 2010, EDCTP started funding two projects that tackle HIV and TB co-infection. The first of these multi-centre studies is on prevention of early mortality by presumptive tuberculosis treatment in HIV-infected patients initiating antiretroviral therapy. This study will be conducted in Gabon, Mozambique, South Africa and Uganda. The second project is on nutritional support for Africans starting antiretroviral therapy. This study will be conducted in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia.

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