News Story

The research team, led by Professor Sean Emery and Professor David Cooper, at UNSW’s National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR), will study the effectiveness of optimised doses of HIV drug treatment, known as antiretroviral therapy (ART).

If effective, ENCORE (for Evaluation of Novel Concepts in Optimization of antiRetroviral Efficacy), would allow governments and non-government organisations to purchase more drugs, and ease the pressure on manufacturing capacity to meet the growing global demand for ART. Dose optimisation could allow enhanced funding for further treatment, care and prevention work.

“We hope that our work will see more people with access to therapy for any given level of funding,” Professor Emery said.

Drug therapy for HIV not only extends and improves the quality of life of people with HIV, it also may reduce the likelihood of that person infecting others. Consequently the roll-out of HIV drug therapy supports the work of HIV/AIDS prevention.

The focus of care for HIV-infected people is the continued scale-up of access to ART, but the success of the roll-out of ART is putting enormous pressure on both the ability to pay for the drugs and the capacity to manufacture them. Alternative means of reducing the costs, such as changes to the manufacturing process, have been exhausted.

More than three million people in developing countries currently receive drug therapy for HIV infection, and the World Health Organisation estimates that this will rise three-fold to nine million by 2015.

“We are very honoured and excited to receive this support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lead this important work,” Professor Cooper said.

Media Contact: Steve Offner | 9385 8107 | | Media & Communications Unit