[Viva] Fwd: CATIE News - Danish researchers issue statement: "We are not on the brink of an HIV cure"

Thu May 16 11:46:42 PDT 2013

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CATIE <mailer at newsletter.catie.ca>
Date: Thu, May 16, 2013 at 11:42 AM
Subject: CATIE News - Danish researchers issue statement: "We are not on
the brink of an HIV cure"
To: dbecker106 at gmail.com

**
    CATIE News - Bite-sized HIV/AIDS news bulletins
       CATIE News - Danish researchers issue statement: "We are not on the
brink of an HIV cure"

Over the past several weeks some media outlets have grossly misinterpreted
press releases and results from a clinical trial that occurred in Denmark.
These media claimed that a team of Danish scientists stated that an HIV
cure was imminent. Unfortunately, these incorrect internet news stories
have unfairly raised hopes. Now, in an attempt to correct the
misinterpretations of their data, the Danish scientists involved in that
work have issued a very clear press release stating that, while their work
has exciting potential, *“we are not on the brink of an HIV
cure<http://www.en.auh.dk/news+and+media/news+archive/shownews?showNews=126241>
.”*

The good news is that funding agencies in several high-income countries,
including Canada, Australia, Denmark, France, the UK and the U.S., are
planning or already funding different strategies to explore potential
avenues that researchers may use one day in an attempt to cure HIV
infection.

Bear in mind that such research is extremely complex, time-consuming and,
depending on the protocol involved, potentially risky for volunteers.
Indeed, attempting to cure HIV is an extremely challenging endeavor. Due to
all of these factors, and in the absence of a lucky accident or
breakthrough, it is *not* likely that there will be a simple, cheap and
widely available cure within the next 10 years. Furthermore, Danish
researchers recently predicted that it might take “many years” before a
cure is finally ready.

During the coming decade, scientists hard at work trying to cure HIV need
our encouragement because of the difficulty of this endeavour, and funding
agencies need to demonstrate long-term commitment, as developing a safe,
effective and simple-to-administer cure will take time.

There will be advances made on the path to a cure but, as with any other
great bio-medical quest, there will likely be setbacks.

Due to the complex nature of HIV cure research, we encourage our readers to
treat future media stories that claim to have news of an HIV cure with a
healthy degree of skepticism. Furthermore, any claims of a cure need to be
verified by other scientists and critically examined. When a cure is
developed, CATIE will be sure to feature details about this on our website.
 *In Canada*

Teams of scientists in major Canadian research centres are hard at work
trying to develop a cure for HIV. Initially such research involves cells
and HIV, and possibly some animal experiments, and takes place only in the
lab.

Canada’s premier scientific funding agency, the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research <http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/193.html> (CIHR) in
collaboration with the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) and
the International AIDS Society <http://www.iasociety.org/HivCure.aspx> is
planning to fund research to cure
HIV<https://www.researchnet-recherchenet.ca/rnr16/vwOpprtntyDtls.do?prog=1781&view=currentOpps&org=CIHR&type=EXACT&resultCount=25&sort=program&all=1&masterList=true>.
This funding will hopefully encourage more scientists to join cure research
and increase the sophistication and scale of such work.

As new discoveries are made, clinical trials to test ideas for trying to
cure HIV will occur in the future. To find out more about HIV-related
clinical trials, visit the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network and use these
links:

www.hivnet.ubc.ca/satellite-site-map/

www.hivnet.ubc.ca/clinical-studies/

In the meantime, find out more about some approaches to cure
research<http://www.catie.ca/en/treatmentupdate/treatmentupdate-196/hiv-cure-research/>that
are planned, underway or completed.

An upcoming *CATIE News* story will focus on some aspects of Danish cure
research.

 *—Sean R. Hosein*

*References*

   1. Aarhus University Hospital. Correction to HIV story. *Press release*.
   3 May 2013.
   2. Aarhus University Hospital. Danish scientists get one step closer to
   a cure. *Press release*. 1 May 2013.

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CATIE-News is written by Sean Hosein, with the collaboration of other
members of CATIE, in Toronto. Your comments are welcome.

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