Summary:

NEAT’s mission is to strengthen European HIV clinical research capacity by building a clinical and laboratory network in HIV therapeutics. NEAT will catalyse a critical mass of resources and expertise, with the direct involvement of 41 core partners from 16 countries and over 350 affiliated centres of established international reputation. NEAT is committed to designing the roadmap for a durable reshaping of the way clinical research is carried out in Europe so as to achieve a progressive and lasting integration. In doing so, NEAT will pave the way toward the creation of the European Research Area.

The Network will also spread expertise and resources provide training and mobility of scientists at all levels and will foster lasting collaborations across Europe.

Background:

Academic and publicly driven transnational and clinical research in Europe is still fragmented and insufficiently funded, despite some relevant examples of at least partial integration and coordination (e.g. cancer and cardiovascular research). In fact, the majority of preclinical and phase I-III clinical research is carried out by the pharmaceutical industry. In the HIV infection and AIDS area, public investments and coordination varies considerably from country to country, with only a few countries having specific National Programmes providing funding, and/or Central Coordinating Institutions providing technical support to clinical research within the country.

Combination antiretroviral therapy has resulted in a dramatic decrease in mortality and HIV-associated morbidity in industrialised countries. Nevertheless, many serious issues and challenges – namely long term toxicity and HIV drug resistance - are problematic and important in the management of HIV infected individuals, even when treated according to the state-of-the-art. The need for further advances in clinical governance and management of HIV infection remains a high priority, both from a public health and from a medical research perspective.

Aim:

NEAT includes 41 partner institutions from 16 European Countries, with over 350 affiliated centres, caring for the vast majority of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Europe. During the Network development phase, NEAT plans to incorporate all European countries, particularly from the central/eastern region.

Activities will focus on developing new strategies and approaches, from combination antiretroviral therapy to immune-based therapies to treatment of HIV-hepatitis co-infections, promoting networking of transnational research, from proof-of-principle, to phase III - IV clinical trials.

The Network will disseminate expertise and resources, provide training and mobility of scientists at all levels and foster long-term collaborations that will empower European HIV clinical research. A strong educational programme will improve the knowledge of HIV medicine and treatment will be homogenised throughout Europe, avoiding inequalities of care. NEAT will bring together over 350 clinical centres - will improve the harmonisation of medical practices throughout Europe, which will go beyond HIV/AIDS.

Expected results:

• To strengthen the research capacity throughout Europe by building a network for clinical therapeutic trials in HIV in order to optimise the management of HIV;
• To define optimal strategies for management of HIV infection and to guide the implementation of optimal interventions;
• To improve coherence, complementarities and integration and to develop a common research programme in HIV research;
• To spread excellence through training, mobility and informative programmes (including public events, conferences, website);
• To bring together the existing but dispersed critical mass of researchers (more than 200 scientists) and expertise in Europe from leading Institutions and Organisations (5 National Agencies, 2 established consortia, 15 leading clinical Institutions and 1 European Patient Association);
• To integrate leading HIV/AIDS research Institutions and Clinical Centres through a coherent, multidisciplinary and durable research programme;
• To tackle fragmentation and strengthen excellence by creating a Clinical Trials Platform to improve the efficacy and coherence of ongoing HIV/AIDS clinical research in Europe;
• To design the roadmap for a durable restructuring and reshaping of the way research is carried out in Europe to achieve a desired level of integration, in the medium/long term;
• To significantly increase the quality and ambitions of existing research in order to affirm Europe’s leadership in the field;
• To promote quality and excellence through the establishment of a PhD and post doctoral programme to train young scientists.

Coordinator:

Partners:

Nº	Principal Scientific Participants	Official Address	Other Information
2	Stefano Vella	Istituto Superiore di Sanità Dipartimento del Farmaco Roma IT-CA
3	Jean-Francois Delfraissy	Agence Nationale de Reserches sur le SIDA et les Hepatites Virales Paris FR-CA
4	Norbert Brockmeyer	Competence Network HIV/AIDS, Ruihr-Universitat Bochum Bochum D-CA
5	Abdel Babiker	Medical Research Council, Clinical Trial Unit LondonUK-CA
6	Joep Lange	Academic Medical Centre National AIDS Therapy Evaluation Centre Amsterdam NL-CA
7	William Powderly	University College Dublin School of Medicine and Medical Science Dublin IRE
8	Francisco Antunes	Facultade de Medicina de Lisboa, Clinica Universitaria de Doencas Infecciosas Lisboa PT
9	Jose M. Gatell	Hospital Clinic i Provincial de Barcelona Infectious Diseases & AIDS Unit Barcelona ES-1
10	Bonaventura Clotet	Fundacio LLuita contra la SIDA, HIV Unit Badalona ES-2
11	Vicente Soriano	HospitalCarlos III Department of Infectious Diseases Madrid ES-3
12	Jose Arribas	Hospital La Paz, HIV Unit Madrid ES-4
13	Natan Clumeck	Saint Pierre University Hopital Department of Infectious Diseases Bruxelles B
14	Andrzej Horban	Wojewodzki Szpital Zakazny AIDS Diagnosis and Therapy Centre Warszawa PL
15	Ladislav Machala	AIDS Center Faculty Hospital Bulovka Prague CZ-1
16	Dalibor Sedlacek	University Hospital Plzen Plzen CZ-2
17	Denes Banhegyi	St Laszlo Hospital, 5th Dept of Medicine Budapest HU
18	Anders Sonnerborg	Karolinska University Hospital Department of Infectious Diseases Stockholm SE
19	Jens D. Lundgren	H:S Hvidovre Hospital, Copenhagen HIV Programme, Dept 044 Hvidovre DK
20	Christine Katlama	Hopital Pitie-Salpetriere, Département des maladies infectieuses Paris FR-1
21	Jean-Michel Molina	Hopital Saint-Louis, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire et de Recherche Paris FR-2
22	Patrick Yeni	CHU Bichat, Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris Department of Infectious Diseases Paris FR-3
23	Francois Raffi	Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes, Department of Infectious Diseases, HIV Clinical Research Unit Nantes FR-4
24	Francoise Brun	University Paris 7 Denis Diderot, lab of Virology, Bichat Claude Bernard Hospital Vezinet Paris FR-5
25	Yves Levy	Centre Hospitale Universitaire Henri Mondor, Service d’Immunologie Clinique Paris FR-6
26	Jürgen Rockstroh	Department of Medicine, University of Bonn Bonn D-1
27	Reinhold E. Schmidt	Abteilung Klinische Immunologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover Hannover D-2
28	Schlomo Staszewski	Hospital of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Dep. of InternalMedicine, HIV Outpatient and Research Unit Frankfurt HIV Cohort Frankfurt am Main D-3
29	Andrea Antinori	National Institute of Infectious Diseases "L. Spallanzani" Roma IT-1
30	Giampiero Carosi	Università degli Studi di Brescia, Spedali Civili - Clinica Malattie Infettive e Tropicali Brescia IT-2
31	Giuseppe Tambussi	Fondazione Centro San Raffaele del Monte Tabor, Infectious Diseases Milano IT-3
32	Massimo Andreoni	Università degli Studi di Tor Vergata, Dep. of Pubblic Health/Clinical of InfectiousDiseases, Faculty of Medicine Roma IT-4
33	Anton Pozniak	Università degli Studi di Milano UNIMI Mauro MoroniMilano IT-5 St Stephen's AIDS Trust, Department of HIV LondonUK-1
34	Andrew Phillips	Royal Free & University College, Medical School of UCL LondonUK-2
35	Charles Boucher	University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Virology Utrecht NL-1
36	Remko van Leeuwen	International Anti-Viral Therapy Evaluation Centre Amsterdam NL-2
37	Brigitte Schmied	Sozialmedizinisches Zentrum Baumgartner Höhe - Otto-Wagner-Spital mit Pflegezentrum Wien AT-2
38	Patrick Francioli	Swiss HIV Cohort Study Lausanne NET-CH
39	Carlo Giaquinto	PENTA - for the treatment and care of children with HIV (and related diseases) - ONLUS Padova NET-PED
40	Marisa De Rosa	European AIDS Treatment Group e. V.EATG Nikos Dedes Dusseldorf NET-COM CINECA, Consorzio Universitario Bologna IT-IT