The North American magazine Science, one of the most prestigious scientific publications worldwide, has published a ranking of the ten greatest innovations in 2011 and elected research HPTN 052 as the winner. In Brazil, the study is conducted by the Grupo Hospitalar Conceição [Conceição Hospital Group] (GHC), in Porto Alegre, and coordinated by the Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas [Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute] (Ipec/Fiocruz), in Rio de Janeiro, supported by Fiotec.It is a pioneer clinical trial of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) which showed that, if HIV-positive individuals adhere to an efficient antiretroviral therapy schedule, the risk of transmitting the virus to his/her sex partner without infection can be decreased up to 96%.

The merit of the research, according to the publication, is to prove that the treatment with antiretrovirals, drugs controlling the action of the HIV virus in the body, can also decrease its transmission, i.e., they serve as a preventive method against the disease.“Along with other promising clinical trials, the results attain efforts to mitigate the Aids epidemics worldwide on a way which was unconceivable up to one year ago”, states the editor-in-chief of Science magazine, Bruce Alberts.

Started in 2005, study HPTN 052 counted on the participation of 1,763 serodiscordant couples (97% heterosexuals) and was conducted in 13 healthcare centers which are part of the Trial Network, located in countries from Asia, Africa and the Americas, such as South Africa, Botswana, Brazil, United States, India, Malaysia, Kenya, Thailand and Zimbabwe.In Brazil, Ipec, included at HTPN since 2001, coordinated the participation of more than two centers, GHC and the Hospital Geral de Nova Iguaçu [Nova Iguaçu General Hospital] (HGNI), in Rio de Janeiro.

HPTN

Created in 2000, HPTN is a cooperative network comprising institutions of a number of countries which develop clinical tests focused in the HIV/Aids virus transmission study.Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the United States, HPTN has as its greatest priority to develop and implement prevention strategies which contribute for a significant and measurable decrease in HIV incidence in worldwide populations.

Source:CCS/Fiocruz