Global Solutions For Infectious Diseases

Programs: Aidsvax hiv vaccine program: gsid provided its vaccine product, aidsvaxb/e, a vaccine designed to prevent infection from hiv-1, to several human clinical trials and non-human studies in thailand, switzerland, south africa, uganda and the united states. A primary objective of these phase i and ii studies is to generate new safety and immunological data which will help design future large-scale efficacy trials planned for the next generation of hiv vaccine candidates and to gain further understanding of why a previously conducted efficacy trial was partially successful. Funding for these activities in 2016 was provided by the henry m. Jackson foundation (bethesda, md). No activities related to this program were conducted by gsid personnel in asia or sub-saharan africa during 2017. Gsid established repository containing the serological specimens collected primarily from the first two phase iii clinical trials of an hiv/aids vaccine. The repository consists of over 30 ultra-low freezer units containing over 300,000 vials of serum and plasma collected from over 8,000 volunteers who participated in the clinical trials. The specimens are provided under material transfer agreements to investigators in the scientific community who are working towards finding a better understanding of the virus that causes aids and to those scientists who are developing vaccines to prevent hiv infection. The repository also contains other materials such as: gmp-grade vaccine, manufacturing reagents, research-grade vaccine and data which are also provided to the research community to conduct experiments, pre-clinical trials and human clinical trials; and to develop laboratory assays.

diagnostics & surveillance program: gsid is developing a system to rapidly diagnose and report the occurrence of infectious diseases in low resource point-of-care settings. The intent is to assist the healthcare provider by obtaining an accurate diagnosis so that the appropriate treatment is initiated quickly and information is communicated to governmental agencies and ngos that formulate public health policy and allocate resources. In 2017, gsid personnel conducted activities using its mobile-phone-based technology at public health centers in zimbabwe and mozambique.

global health consulting program: in 2017, gsid provided consulting services to organizations supporting the development and manufacture of dengue fever and flu vaccines. Funding for this program is provided by the world health organization (geneva, switzerland). No activities were conducted by gsid personnel in sub-saharan africa during 2017.