University of North Carolina (UNC) researchers and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a global pharmaceutical company, has teamed up together for accelerating their research for the cure for AIDS.
UNC and GSK have announced of their partnership and creation of a dedicated HIV centre cure on last Sunday, May 10th and they said it will be exclusively focusing on finding a cure for AIDS/HIV. They have also said that their partnership expects redefining the way in which research is done for tackling health issues on a global basis.
The centre is located at the University’s Chapel Hill campus and the partnership is also expected to result in the creation of a new company called Qura Therapeutics that will be managing the business aspects that are associated with research works like intellectual property, governance, commercialization and manufacturing.
According to Chancellor Carol Folt of UNC Chapel hill, this private-public partnership has great potential and he also said that they for the over three decades now the university has been actively researching on AIDS. This partnership is just a step which will speed up research in finding and effective cure for the disease and is a bold step for fighting AIDS/HIV for the whole world.
GSK in the last few decades has also brought in substantial advancement in the war against HIV/AIDS.
Sir Andrew Witty, the CEO of GSK said, “From the development of the world’s first breakthrough medicine for HIV patients in the 1980s, to our leadership in the market today through ViiV Healthcare, we’re continuously challenging ourselves to meet the needs of patients. We are inspired by the confidence that with the right resources and research teams, we will be able to make a meaningful impact towards a cure for HIV.”
So far, almost 78 million people have been infected with HIV ever since the start of its epidemic according to the World Health Organization and its death toll so far has been of 39 million people.
According to the WHO by the end of 2013, about 35 million people had been living with HIV and this scale of epidemic mostly varies on a regional basis. The most affected region had been the sub-Saharan Africa where 1 in every 20 adults is affect with HIV. It is estimated by the WHO that around 71% of people who are living with the HIV virus are from the sub-Saharan Africa and a cure for this disease can help save millions.
