Hunt
for AIDS cure accelerates as GSK and U.S. experts link
up
Send a link to a friend
[May 11, 2015] By
Ben Hirschler
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's
GlaxoSmithKline, which decided last week to retain rather than float off
its HIV drugs business, is to collaborate with U.S. scientists in
developing a cure for AIDS.
|
Until recently, many researchers were reluctant to even discuss the
possibility of curing the disease caused by HIV, which infects 35
million people worldwide, since the obstacles seemed insurmountable.
But after a 30-year battle to keep HIV at bay with life-time
antiretroviral drugs, there is growing optimism that a cure is
feasible.
The case of Timothy Brown, the so-called "Berlin patient" whose HIV
was eradicated by a complex treatment for leukemia in 2007, marked
the first cure and the science has been advancing since then.
GSK is tapping into the latest expertise by creating an HIV Cure
center with the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill
and establishing a new jointly owned company.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/11/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
The drugmaker said on Monday it would invest $20 million to help
fund the work for an initial five years.
Scientists will study various cure options, including a so-called
"shock-and-kill" strategy developed at UNC, which unmasks dormant
HIV hiding in white blood cells, so that it can be attacked by a
boosted immune system.
It is likely to prove a long haul, however.
"In the next five to 10 years we should gain more knowledge around
the various mechanisms that could contribute to a cure and maybe in
the next 10 to 20 years we can really bring these modalities
together," Zhi Hong, GSK's infectious diseases head, told Reuters.
In the case of the Berlin patient, curing HIV involved a stem cell
transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation that resists
HIV infection.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/Symphony_122313.png)
This complicated approach could never be replicated on a large
scale, so researchers are pinning their hopes on simplified systems
that may also be able to exploit recent breakthroughs in immune
system-boosting drugs for cancer.
"I expect we will have progress in fits and starts, so we need a
structure to pursue this work in a rational way over a long period
of time," said David Margolis of UNC.
GSK sells HIV medicines through its majority-owned ViiV Healthcare
unit, which it had been considering for a stock market listing,
until a change of tack on May 6.
Its investment at Chapel Hill is separate from ViiV, although ViiV
will play an advisory role.
(Editing by Pravin Char)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/11/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png) |