European Union Launches Center for Clinical Trials, Research Coordination on HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria in Africa

The European Union on Monday launched a new research center in Cape Town, South Africa, to perform clinical trials and coordinate research on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria throughout Africa, Reuters reports. The European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership will fund 18 clinical trials in Africa and Europe over the next three years and will receive $4.2 million in E.U. funding in the first year. Piero Olliaro, EDCTP executive director, said that the partnership aims to increase the quality of studies on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. "Regulations and ethics today require that clinical trials be conducted to meet the highest standards," and EDCTP "must ensure that the capacities exist in Africa to meet these requirements," Olliaro said. The EDCTP African office is based at South Africa's Medical Research Council and will establish a clinical trials registry to document past and current research, according to Olliaro (Reuters, 7/26). Researchers from 16 African and nine European countries are deciding how to run the partnership. "The European Union brings in cash and the resources in order to allow or enable these researchers to do research on diseases of poverty not only in our country but also in the African continent," Mosibudi Mangena, South Africa's minister of science and technology, said (SABC News, 7/26).