The Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases’ site in Malawi has officially joined the National Institutes of Health HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN).
UNC Project-Malawi, based in Lilongwe, is one of seven new sites to join the network in the new grant cycle, which began in January 2014.
UNC Project was established in 1999 and has 350 clinical, scientific, technical and support staff and 45,000 square feet of research space at multiple sites in Lilongwe.
In the area of HIV, UNC Project’s funded research is in the areas of adult treatment and prevention, HIV-related cancers, HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women, infants and children and HIV vaccines.
“Although there has been a phenomenal reduction in the incidence and prevalence of HIV worldwide, an HIV vaccine is still required to reach the goal of an AIDS-free generation,” said Irving Hoffman, international director of UNC Project-Malawi.
The HVTN is the global leader in vaccine development. UNC Project-Malawi has been chosen as one of the few sub-Saharan African sites outside South Africa to conduct a future HIV vaccine Phase III trials. “We were selected because of our past performance conducting large Phase III malaria vaccine and HIV biological prevention trials,” Hoffman said.
The Malawi site is also part of the UNC Global HIV Prevention and Treatment Clinical Trials Unit, which recently announced a seven year, $40 million award from the NIH.
UNC Project-Malawi is also a clinical research site for studies in the Microbicides Trials Network (MTN), the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), and the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group (IMPAACT).
March 31, 2014.