A new $5 million UBC research project aims to develop an improved HIV drug-resistance test, real-time drug resistance surveillance and better methods for personalizing treatment of HIV.
Richard Harrigan
Funded by Genome BC and led by Associate Professor of Medicine Richard Harrigan, the project will develop new tests based on a patient’s DNA to guide therapy as well and avoid serious side effects. The two types of tests—viral and human genomic—will help doctors prescribe the best drug cocktail for each patient, one that is both effective and minimizes side effects that may cause patients to stop treatment.
“This test will be a better, more sensitive tool that takes less time to get results and is less expensive,” says Dr. Harrigan, Director of the Laboratory Program and head of genomics research at the BC Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
The project will expand the number of human genomic markers tested to predict side effects for all classes of HIV drugs. Since side effects drive whether or not patients take these drugs and stick with them, the new resistance test will make the therapy more effective in reducing the amount of HIV in the blood and thus lessen the chances of spreading the virus.
The research team is also creating a new early warning system to monitor and map drug resistance. It will pinpoint geographic or population “hot spots” where resistance rates are highest and the risk of transmission greatest. “We’ll be able to monitor the emergence of drug resistance in real time and identify patients with newly acquired drug-resistant strains faster. We can then intervene proactively and preemptively so the resistance doesn’t become widespread,” says Dr. Julio Montaner, co-leader of the project, Director of the BC-CfE and the Director of AIDS Research and Head of the Division of AIDS in the UBC Faculty of Medicine.
All HIV patients in Canada through their doctors will have access to the new test at the BC-CfE labs. The technology will be shared with labs globally, so it can be adopted worldwide.
Results of the research project will give patients like Walter Hiebert an even better chance of staying healthy. Twenty-five years after being told he was HIV positive and had six months to live, he’s thriving, thanks to the combination of three anti-retroviral drugs. But his drug cocktail had to be changed after he developed resistance.
“The new resistance test will be great for newly diagnosed people and experienced people who have been HIV-positive for a long time,” says Hiebert, now 56.
“Genome BC is funding an important example of personalized medicine that is making a difference in the lives of HIV patients,” says Alan Winter, President and CEO of Genome BC. “We’re very proud to be partnering with Dr. Harrigan and Dr. Montaner, whose work has changed the prognosis for millions of people around the globe.”
The $5 million grant also includes contributions from Genome Quebec, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, ViiV Healthcare and the St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation.