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A year after creation, UNC and GSK's research partnership begins first HIV study

The HIV Cure Center may enroll a patient as soon as this week for its first study. 

The center was created in May 2015, when UNC partnered with GlaxoSmithKline to develop a cure for AIDS.

Director David Margolis said the scientists began work in November after lab construction finished.

Margolis said the partnership between the University and GSK has helped with research.

“This is exactly what we hoped by bringing the two worlds together in this one physical space, so that’s been really very nice to see,” he said.

Margolis said the center hopes to start two new projects by the end of the year.

“We’ve had a lot of progress on a lot of fronts. Both basic science in the labs, discovery of some potential new approaches and moving some of the more validated approaches into clinical studies,” Margolis said.

The center is working on a combination study to reverse HIV latency and clear the remaining infection, he said. HIV latency is the virus’ second stage of infection. 

“Many people have been working on this problem for a couple of years now, and although there’s been a lot of technical advances, no one has actually cleared persistent HIV infection in a measurable way … with the exception of giving someone a total bone marrow transplant,” he said.

Andrew Spaltenstein, vice president of the HIV Discovery Performance Unit at GSK, said the team wants to focus on applying for grants to fund new research projects and expand the center.

“We already have a number of grant opportunities, but we’d like to see more of that,” he said.

Richard Dunham, investigator at GSK, said the scientists from GSK and the University have worked well together since the lab was completed.

Dunham said the collaborative nature of the lab has been positive.

“We’ve found some really good places where we can synergize and fulfill that aspiration that we have to find the best of pharma and the best of academia — and bring those together,” Dunham said.

But Spaltenstein said the center still has progress to make.

“We have made some scientific progress, we’ve generated some good data, but we are obviously a long way away from our final goal — which is to cure HIV,” he said. “But I think we’re off to a good start and we’re looking forward to growing our projects and growing our cure center.”

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