Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - December 5, 2006
Fred Ouma
About seven years ago, the centre also did the first HIV/AIDS vaccine trial in Africa and the third group globally. The first trial was in US followed by France and JCRC in Uganda, says Dr. Samson Kibende, the JCRC deputy director in charge of administration.
Dr. Cissy Kityo Mutuluuza, the JCRC deputy director in charge of research and clinical services, says the centre has carried out a number of research projects ranging from drugs in development for HIV treatment to established antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs.
Others have included herbal preparations for both HIV treatment and management of HIV-related conditions and infections, management of opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis and meningitis.
In addition, the centre continues to be involved in the HIV vaccine trials, HIV prevention studies, social behavioural studies, basic science projects and operational research intended to increase access to HIV treatment.
Kityo, says the aim of the research is to get best practices in care that would be imitated by other care providers in the region and the world at large.
"It is imperative that the fight against the HIV scourge be based on researched and proven information," says Kityo.
She says the first HIV vaccine trial in Africa was conducted at the centre, in collaboration with the US National Institute of Health and John Hopkins University. The centre is currently involved in a vaccine trial for prevention of prenatal HIV transmission.
In the early 1990s many herbalists took advantage to claim cure for the disease. Armed with equipment to do CD4 cell counts in 1992, Prof. Peter Mugyenyi, the JCRC director says, "we set out to evaluate several herbal preparations assessing response to treatment by taking serial CD4 measurements."
He says preparations from Uganda, China and South Africa were studied but none showed any effect on the HIV virus, although some showed effects on HIV-related conditions like skin rash and chronic diarrhoea.
Kityo explains that the centre has done clinical trials and findings published in international peer journals.
In 1991/2, JCRC was among the first group to carry out research on AZT drug that was administered in the management of HIV/AIDS.
"In those years the dose was 800mgs per day, which had terrible side effects. From our research, we found that 200mgs each day was just as good even with less side effects. And that was the first achievement," Kityo says.
The centre competitively won the grant to be one of the few international sites under the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) that is supported by the US National Institute of Health.
The registration of the centre under this network of clinics around the world required that JCRC meet international standards of research.
Currently, the centre's laboratory has been accredited by the College of American Pathologist, which allows the centre to be involved in international studies that provide knowledge on the best ways to treat HIV/AIDS.
The centre intends to look at areas like adherence to treatment, development of resistance to available ARVs, combination of new ARVs and evaluation of microbicides.
JCRC plans to increase the ART to the patients in the country especially those in rural and areas and to increase its sites to at least 50.
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