Providing Robust Data In Pursuit of HIV Vaccine

Scientists throughout the world battling the HIV/AIDS epidemic employ a number of techniques, but few tools are more useful in the development of a vaccine than comprehensive and clear data. HJF has been instrumental in facilitating the collection of such data through Project Phidisa in South Africa.

People living in South Africa are experiencing one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world. At the end of 2007, an estimated 1,000 South Africans died of the disease each day and more than 5.7 million people—nearly 12 percent of the population—had contracted the disease. South Africa’s infected population alone represents more than 17 percent of the total AIDS/HIV cases worldwide; sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than 67 percent of the 33 million HIV-positive people across the world.

From this crisis was borne Project Phidisa—a clinical research project funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) that focuses on the management and treatment of HIV infection among the uniformed members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and their dependents. In 2002, the South African Military Health Service of SANDF and the U.S. ambassador to South Africa agreed to look into building the capacity of clinical research within the South African military with the initial focus on HIV/AIDS. The defense force believes the results of Project Phidisa will inform policymakers on HIV treatment across South African society.

In 2008, researchers completed the trials of four antiretroviral vaccines on patients with advanced HIV and sent the data to top scientists at NIAID. The scientists have been exceptionally pleased with the data and believe it will help contribute to the development of a vaccine. Researchers also presented their findings, along with two sub-studies on opportunistic infectious diseases, at the 16th annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in February in Montreal.

Since it began in 2002, Project Phidisa has served 8,000 patients at its six clinical research sites and three additional satellite locations, the last of which opened in early 2008. The widely distributed satellites make it easier for patients to keep scheduled appointments and thereby contribute to a successful testing and data-gathering process. Currently, Project Phidisa has about 6,700 enrolled patients.