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HIV Reservoirs Cure Research is Severely Underfunded
HIV Reservoirs Cure Research is Severely Underfunded
As a cure for HIV would save the lives of millions of people—including many in developing countries who may never receive the decades of treatment they need to stay alive, we call for an international task force for an HIV cure able to shift gears of governments and investors. By echoing as loud as you can this call, you have the potential to change the face of the epidemic.
Toulon,
other,
France
(prbd.net)
01/02/2011
Despite major advances in antiretroviral (ARV) drug development, with the availability of combinations able to completely block HIV replication, the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to growth at an astonishing rate. Its is now estimated that more than 33 million individuals are infected with HIV, 68 percent of them living in sub-Saharan Africa. Conversely, the number of people living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has almost tripled since 2000.
Over the last 15 years, while ARVs became more and more effective and simpler for patients to take every day, many researchers started focusing on perfecting treatments, and HIV cure research took a back seat.
ARVs are available to anyone with good medical insurance in America. Unfortunately for those underinsured, levels of funding have not always been sufficient to provide adequate treatment and care services for an ever-growing HIV positive population.
In Europe, like in France, HIV treatment is widely available for people living with HIV, and usually paid by the governments. However, with the economic crisis, there is a risk that this universal access would be reconsidered.
For most Africans living with HIV, ARVs are still not available: less than 40 percent of those in need of treatment are receiving it. Millions of patients are not even receiving prophylaxis for opportunistic infections.
Pharmaceutical companies are less committed than in the past in developing new drugs against HIV. First, in developed countries the “market” is quite closed, as most patients who need treatment already receive it. Then, in resource poor countries, patients cannot afford these expansive therapies. The search of a final HIV cure has paradoxically not been a priority for these companies. Development of a cure implies important funding in basic research first, which is not in line with the need to rapidly make profit, and reward stockholders.
According to some activists, on the $1.54 Billion spent by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of America (NIAID) on AIDS in 2009, only $40 million was spent on AIDS cure research. This represents only 3 percent of the total NIAID AIDS budget. Research funding for an HIV cure is compromised by expenditure on AIDS vaccine research, despite the fact that some researchers believe that the prospects for finding an HIV vaccine and a cure are about equal. In Europe, where official agencies for AIDS research have also been created, there is no specific budget attributed to HIV cure research. There are, also, very few ongoing serious clinical trials focusing on an HIV cure in the whole world.
Researchers, however, know how to address the issue of a cure. Over the past few years, they have increased the scientific knowledge on the mechanisms of HIV persistence in an infected host, and have drawn potential strategies for attacking HIV in its latent reservoirs. But for scientists, it is easier to find research money for treatment studies, not for a cure. Money for HIV persistence research is scarce, especially for risky new ideas that might not pan out. When thinking about an HIV cure study, researchers are compelled to consider whether or not governmental agencies or other private fundesr will pay for it. If they don’t think the funder will pay, they may move on to another idea—possibly less promising.
As a cure for HIV would save the lives of millions of people—including many in developing countries who may never receive the decades of treatment they need to stay alive, we call for an international task force for an HIV cure able to shift gears of governments and investors. By echoing as loud as you can this call, you have the potential to change the face of the epidemic.
About us: we are involved in HIV reservoirs research: http://www.hiv-eradication.org
About
Alain Lafeuillade is a Medical Doctor involved in HIV care and HIV reservoirs research, and is Chair of the "International Workshop on HIV Persistence": http://www.hiv-eradication.org
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