The HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group released its seventh report on HIV prevention research funding, which states that new investment is critical to capitalizing on HIV prevention breakthroughs. The full report is available here: http://www.hivresourcetracking.org/sites/default/files/RTWG-Capitalizing%20on%20Scientific%20Progress.pdf. 

AVAC says results of new PrEP trials provide clear evidence that antiretroviral  drugs for prevention can help end the AIDS epidemic; calls for quick action  to move landmark HIV prevention results toward lifesaving programs.  Read the full statement below. 

IAVI today announced the appointment of Margaret (Margie) McGlynn as President and Chief Executive Officer. McGlynn, replaces Seth Berkley, IAVI’s Founding President and CEO.  The full announcement is below.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first reported cases of what is now known as AIDS, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, describes his personal experiences as a physician, leading HIV/AIDS researcher, and scientific administrator during a special lecture and editorial in the Washington Post.

The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) announced findings from HPTN 052, a study to evaluate the immediate versus delayed use of antiretroviral therapy by HIV-infected individuals on transmission to uninfected partners and health of the infected individual. The study showed that initiation of ART by HIV-­‐infected individuals substantially protected their HIV-­uninfected sexual partners from acquiring HIV infection, with a 96 percent reduction in risk of HIV transmission.

A research team led by Dr. Louis Picker at Oregon Health & Science University’s (OHSU) Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute published findings in Nature that produced a vaccine candidate that programs the immune system of non-human primates to respond more swiftly to the presence of a primate version of HIV than it normally would. Details of this advance are published in the advance online edition of Nature.

Europrise distributed its newsletter, see below to access the full newsletter.

The French National Agency for Research on AIDS and viral hepatitis (ANRS) and the University of Paris Est announce the creation of the Vaccine Research Institute (VRI), whose mission is to  conduct research to develop a vaccine against HIV/AIDS and HCV, following the award of the status of Laboratory of Excellence by the French Prime Minister in March 2011.  Read the full announcement below.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, discusses why HIV is still a problem during his interview on The Colbert Report.  Watch the interview here.

On April 01, 2011, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Canada were invited to submit project proposals for the new Canadian HIV Technology Development (CHTD) program.  The CHTD falls under the Translating Basic Science into Clinical Trials program area of the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative (CHVI), a collaboration between the Government of Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.