MRC receives R100-m boost
DURBAN – The Medical Research Council of South Africa has received more than R100 million over five years to establish two new research units for the study of HIV/AIDS prevention strategies and vaccines.
The United States National Institutes for Health made the grant yesterday (wed) in response to an application by Dr Salim S. Abdool Karim, director of HIV Prevention and Vaccine Research at the MRC. It is the biggest grant ever made to a research organisation in South Africa.
The funds will be divided between an HIV Vaccine Trial Unit and an HIV Prevention Trial Unit. “Both units will ensure that South Africa stays at the forefront of the global effort to devise and test HIV vaccines and prevention strategies,” said Dr Abdool Karim.
The HIV Vaccine Trial Unit includes several international collaborative partners: Columbia University in New York (where Dr Abdool Karim is also the Professor in Clinical Public Health), the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Centre and the New York Blood Centre, as well as local collaborators.
The HIV Prevention Trial Unit involves collaboration with the University of Natal and Columbia University.
The Vaccine Trial Unit will conduct a Phase II trial of an HIV vaccine that uses the canarypox vector. The HIV Prevention Trials Unit will conduct at least two trials in its first year — a microbicide trial and a phase III trial to assess whether Nevirapine administered to the baby can prevent HIV transmission through breast-feeding. – Health-e News Service
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