NIH Watch [to 21 February 2015]
http://www.nih.gov/news/index.html
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:: NIH-supported clinical trials to evaluate long-acting, injectable antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV infection
February 19, 2015 -The trial will be conducted in South Africa, the United States and Zimbabwe.

:: NIH-sponsored HIV vaccine trial launches in South Africa
February 19, 2015 — Early-stage trial aims to build on RV144 results.
A clinical trial called HVTN 100 has been launched in South Africa to study an investigational HIV vaccine regimen for safety and the immune responses it generates in study participants. This experimental vaccine regimen is based on the one tested in the U.S. Military HIV Research Program-led RV144 clinical trial in Thailand—the first study to demonstrate that a vaccine can protect people from HIV infection. The HVTN 100 vaccine regimen was designed to provide greater protection than the RV144 regimen and has been adapted to the HIV subtype that predominates in southern Africa. The results of the HVTN 100 trial, expected in two years, will help determine whether or not this vaccine regimen will be tested for efficacy in a large future study in South Africa.
“A safe and effective HIV vaccine is essential to reach a timely, sustained end to the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” said Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. “The launch of HVTN 100 marks an important step forward in building upon the promising results of the RV144 trial to produce an HIV vaccine that could have a significant public health impact in southern Africa, where the HIV/AIDS pandemic is most pervasive.”…

:: NIH expands key tuberculosis research program
February 19, 2015 — Awards over seven years will fund four institutions that will act as a collaborative network.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, is expanding its Tuberculosis Research Units (TBRU) program in an effort to drive innovation in tuberculosis (TB) research. NIAID is awarding up to $15.2 million in fiscal year 2015 and as much as $105.3 million over seven years to fund four institutions that will act as a collaborative TBRU network…
…The new TBRU awards were made to the following institutions: :: Boston Medical Center, Boston; Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston; Emory University, Atlanta; Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City…