Sky Eclat
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 17, 2012
- 57,761
- 216,011
A partnership implemented by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is behind the collaborative UK effort for a new treatment to cure HIV. Having brought 5 leading Universities together; Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, King's and UCL, it’s the first-of-its-kind.
Managing Director of NOCRI Mark Samuels said:
"Together, we identified a research need which could only be achieved by creating a collaboration between these leading establishments.
The competitive nature of the relationship between Oxford and Cambridge, spanning 800 years, is widely known, but there is also competition running across all these leading universities, particularly in terms of vying for research funding.
Yet here was an opportunity to put that competition aside, and collaborate on a global health challenge. As a result, the Medical Research Council awarded one of the first joint grants to these five leading biomedical research institutions.
And in return each research centre provides its expertise to complete the jigsaw needed to find a cure for HIV -- from patients, to the right doctors, the right diagnostic technology, the mathematician to analyse results and so on. CHERUB was born."
CHERUB (Collaborative HIV Eradication of viral Reservoirs: UK BRC) was a new approach to HIV therapeutics brought to the UK six years ago. CHERUB brings together, amongst others, clinicians, virologists, immunologists, molecular biologists and mathematical modellers under the umbrella of the NIHR. This collaboration is by far the most significant attempt to find a cure for HIV in the UK (Science Daily).
After treating the first patient with a promising new treatment that could kill all traces of the virus, researchers are hopeful that a cure is close . The study involves activating 'sleeping' HIV-infected cells in the body – but researchers say it will take until the conclusion of the study in 2018 to know if there has been an effect on curing HIV (Oxford University).
It’s important to note that the study is still in its early stages and will not be able to describe participants as “cured” until extensive follow-up has taken place. Investigator Professor Sarah Fidler of Imperial College, London, told The Sunday Times that participants in the study will be followed for five years.
The RIVER study has said the following:
Our study will report in 2018, and at that point we will know if the intervention has had an effect. We already know that the intervention was well tolerated in our first participant and we await the results of further participants. This is the first time that this combination has been given in a clinical trial, which we hope will be the first of many collaborations exploring HIV cure between our five universities and NHS hospital trusts, supported by the NIHR.
It is important to note that all participants involved in the study will be expected to have no HIV in their blood because they are receiving antiretroviral therapy -- these are the standard drugs we use to treat HIV. Although this does not mean they have been cured as some headlines have suggested, it does mean that their immune systems will recover and that they will not transmit the virus. We look forward to reviewing the final results of this ground-breaking study, it will be at that point that we will be able to say whether any individual has responded to the intervention or been cured.
Managing Director of NOCRI Mark Samuels said:
"Together, we identified a research need which could only be achieved by creating a collaboration between these leading establishments.
The competitive nature of the relationship between Oxford and Cambridge, spanning 800 years, is widely known, but there is also competition running across all these leading universities, particularly in terms of vying for research funding.
Yet here was an opportunity to put that competition aside, and collaborate on a global health challenge. As a result, the Medical Research Council awarded one of the first joint grants to these five leading biomedical research institutions.
And in return each research centre provides its expertise to complete the jigsaw needed to find a cure for HIV -- from patients, to the right doctors, the right diagnostic technology, the mathematician to analyse results and so on. CHERUB was born."
CHERUB (Collaborative HIV Eradication of viral Reservoirs: UK BRC) was a new approach to HIV therapeutics brought to the UK six years ago. CHERUB brings together, amongst others, clinicians, virologists, immunologists, molecular biologists and mathematical modellers under the umbrella of the NIHR. This collaboration is by far the most significant attempt to find a cure for HIV in the UK (Science Daily).
After treating the first patient with a promising new treatment that could kill all traces of the virus, researchers are hopeful that a cure is close . The study involves activating 'sleeping' HIV-infected cells in the body – but researchers say it will take until the conclusion of the study in 2018 to know if there has been an effect on curing HIV (Oxford University).
It’s important to note that the study is still in its early stages and will not be able to describe participants as “cured” until extensive follow-up has taken place. Investigator Professor Sarah Fidler of Imperial College, London, told The Sunday Times that participants in the study will be followed for five years.
The RIVER study has said the following:
Our study will report in 2018, and at that point we will know if the intervention has had an effect. We already know that the intervention was well tolerated in our first participant and we await the results of further participants. This is the first time that this combination has been given in a clinical trial, which we hope will be the first of many collaborations exploring HIV cure between our five universities and NHS hospital trusts, supported by the NIHR.
It is important to note that all participants involved in the study will be expected to have no HIV in their blood because they are receiving antiretroviral therapy -- these are the standard drugs we use to treat HIV. Although this does not mean they have been cured as some headlines have suggested, it does mean that their immune systems will recover and that they will not transmit the virus. We look forward to reviewing the final results of this ground-breaking study, it will be at that point that we will be able to say whether any individual has responded to the intervention or been cured.
