B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

Clinical

The Centre’s clinical research program focuses on further defining the role of antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of HIV infection.

Current priorities include:

The evaluation of antiretroviral safety and efficacy of specific treatment regimens, simplified regimens, adjunctive therapies and new formulations of existing drugs.
Investigations into treatments for HIV patients co-infected with other viruses, such as hepatitis B and C.
New approaches to the treatment of HIV-related opportunistic infections; and investigations related to drug toxicities and metabolic risk factors associated with HIV.

The clinical team includes individuals with expertise in all areas of HIV care with special emphasis on primary care, infectious diseases, respiratory medicine, lipid disorders, counselling and psychology, and clinical trial operations.

Drug Treatment Program

To date, the HIV/AIDS Drug Treatment Program has been responsible for hundreds of peer-reviewed publications. Recent studies have helped identify the impact of baseline CD4 cell count and viral load on disease progression, the impact of adherence on disease progression, emerging drug toxicities of antiretroviral therapy, and the effect of socioeconomic status on access to antiretroviral therapy. Most of these studies are based on data extracted from cohort studies conducted within the Drug Treatment Program.

For example, we have established and are following virtual cohorts of HIV patients who have initiated HAART since 1996; injection drug users; patients who have taken an observed structure treatment interruption; and patients who are on salvage regimens of more than four antiretrovirals.

The best known cohort is the HAART Observational Medical Evaluation and Research (HOMER) cohort, which is comprised of nearly 1500 HIV-infected individuals in the Drug Treatment Program who initiated HAART with three or more antiretroviral agents since August 1, 1996. This cohort has formed the basis of studies published in AIDS, JAIDS, JAMA and the Lancet.


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	PRINT Research Clinical The Centre’s clinical research program focuses on further defining the role of antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of HIV infection. Current priorities include: The evaluation of antiretroviral safety and efficacy of specific treatment regimens, simplified regimens, adjunctive therapies and new formulations of existing drugs. Investigations into treatments for HIV patients co-infected with other viruses, such as hepatitis B and C. New approaches to the treatment of HIV-related opportunistic infections; and investigations related to drug toxicities and metabolic risk factors associated with HIV. The clinical team includes individuals with expertise in all areas of HIV care with special emphasis on primary care, infectious diseases, respiratory medicine, lipid disorders, counselling and psychology, and clinical trial operations. Drug Treatment Program To date, the HIV/AIDS Drug Treatment Program has been responsible for hundreds of peer-reviewed publications. Recent studies have helped identify the impact of baseline CD4 cell count and viral load on disease progression, the impact of adherence on disease progression, emerging drug toxicities of antiretroviral therapy, and the effect of socioeconomic status on access to antiretroviral therapy. Most of these studies are based on data extracted from cohort studies conducted within the Drug Treatment Program. For example, we have established and are following virtual cohorts of HIV patients who have initiated HAART since 1996; injection drug users; patients who have taken an observed structure treatment interruption; and patients who are on salvage regimens of more than four antiretrovirals. The best known cohort is the HAART Observational Medical Evaluation and Research (HOMER) cohort, which is comprised of nearly 1500 HIV-infected individuals in the Drug Treatment Program who initiated HAART with three or more antiretroviral agents since August 1, 1996. This cohort has formed the basis of studies published in AIDS, JAIDS, JAMA and the Lancet.