The trials will cover a full range of treatments and products, including microbicides, which are pathogen-killing topical creams or gels, and vaccines.

"We will be conducting the initial human testing -- Phase I safety trials -- of the most promising and safest vaccine, microbicide, STI treatment and diagnostic products in the pipeline. Our goal is to get new products, if proven safe, into efficacy trials faster and then, if efficacious, into the populations that need them," said principal investigator, Craig Cohen, MD, MPH, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and associate director at the UCSF Women's Global Health Imperative (WGHI).

The seven-year contract will target non-HIV STIs, including herpes viruses, syphilis, gonorrhea, human papillomavirus and chlamydia. The research will be conducted with industry sponsors, as well as with UCLA, San Francisco Department of Public Health, the University of Toronto, Los Angeles Department of Health Services, California Department of Health Services Sexually Transmitted Diseases Branch, and international partners from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Brazil, China, Vietnam and Mexico.

The contract will provide an opportunity to establish a STI training program that will be overseen by UCSF Global Health Sciences. Students from international partners will be able to participate in a yearlong program at UCSF that includes certification and mentoring.

"While an important goal of this research to have the latest, safest and most effective technologies to prevent, diagnose and treat sexually transmitted infections available for the most vulnerable populations, there is also an urgent need to build global public health capacity
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Contact: Jeff Sheehy
jsheehy@psg.ucsf.edu
415-597-8165
University of California - San Francisco
4-Nov-2004