Busquin announces moves to establish EU AIDS therapy trials network
EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin has announced his intention to set up an EU-wide AIDS therapy trials network to coordinate clinical trials of AIDS therapies for use in Europe. Mr Busquin, speaking at the European Research Council in Luxembourg on 30 October, said an expert group is currently looking into the feasibility of creating the network, which would link and coordinate HIV/AIDS therapy trials by researchers across the EU. The expert group, made up of clinical scientists from across Europe, is currently headed by Dr Peter Reiss of the Academic Medical Centre of the Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Acting head of the 'Ageing population and diseases linked to poverty' unit of the Commission's Research DG, Arndt Hoeveler, emphasised that the network aims to test HIV/AIDS therapies which have already been developed, and not create new drugs or vaccines. The establishment of the network was proposed under the research priority 'Confronting the major communicable diseases linked to poverty' described under the 'Genomics and biotechnology for health' key action in the Commission's proposals for the next RTD framework programme (FP6) published in May this year. Mr Hoeveler said that the initiative is separate from the European Clinical trials platform also proposed by the Commission. The platform, one of the keystones of research on communicable diseases linked to poverty under FP6, aims to boost clinical trials and treatment for three diseases which have a huge impact on developing countries - HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. It is due to be operational by the end of next year.