Launching a multidisciplinary European collaboration towards a cure for HIV: The EU2Cure Consortium

Abstract

We felt the urgency to launch the EU2Cure Consortium to support research and find a cure for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection through intensified collaboration within Europe. This consortium is open to stakeholders on cure in Europe from academia and the community to connect. The aim of this consortium is to intensify the research collaboration amongst European HIV cure groups and the community and facilitate interactions with other academic and community cure consortia, private parties, and policy makers. Our main aim is to create a European research agenda, data sharing, and development of best practice for clinical and translational science to achieve breakthroughs with clinically feasible HIV cure strategies. This consortium should also enable setting up collaborative studies accessible to a broader group of people living with HIV. Besides reservoir studies, we have identified three overlapping scientific interests in the consortium that provide a starting point for further research within a European network: developing “shock and kill” cure strategies, defining HIV cure biomarkers, and connecting cure cohorts. This strategy should aid stakeholders to sustain progress in HIV cure research regardless of coincidental global health or political crises.

Cohort profile: the Netherlands Cohort Study on Acute HIV infection (NOVA), a prospective cohort study of people with acute or early HIV infection who immediately initiate HIV treatment

“…53 NOVA will provide a valuable platform to conduct clinical trials evaluating such newly developed approaches, also in light of existing and future international collaborations. 54 The NOVA cohort study complements several other prospective cohorts on AEHI worldwide (among others those from US, African, South American and Thai sites NCT00296660 and NCT02859558; San Francisco NCT02656511; Gent NCT03449706; Zurich NCT00537966; Bangkok RV254/SEARCH010 studies 21 ; East Africa and Thailand RV217 55 ; and the South African FRESH cohort). 28 The course of HIV infection (including viral load at AEHI, viral setpoint and viral reservoir) is highly variable between cohorts.…”

HIV cure: an acceptability scientific agenda

“…Patients must commit to lifelong medications and deal with issues such as incomplete viral suppression, social stigma, drug resistance, medication side effects and unsustainable costs. Therefore, an HIV cure is a highly desirable goal for patients [ 8 , 9 ], the reason organizations like the National Institutes of Health and the International AIDS Society have made cure a top research agenda [ 10 – 12 ]. An HIV cure will eliminate stigma and discrimination, reduce new infections and provide sustainable financial solution for controlling the HIV pandemic [ 13 ].…”