Research

A Western-led international research initiative to develop an accessible HIV cure has received $24 million in federal funding to promote its equitable approach to advancing treatment. The six-year project aims to deliver promising treatments for first-in-human clinical trials while building capacity for cost effective production and delivery in Canada and Uganda. The new investment supports IMMUNEQUITY, a large-scale collaboration led by Western and involving researchers from the University of British Columbia, the University of Ottawa, Université de Montréal and the University of Manitoba, alongside partners in Uganda and industry. The federal New Frontiers in Research Fund’s Transformation stream supports Canadian-led interdisciplinary projects tackling major global challenges with the potential for lasting change. IMMUNEQUITY, led by Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry’s Eric Arts, aims to develop an HIV cure that can be made affordable and accessible in countries where the need is greatest. The international team will combine new treatment approaches with frugal biomedical technologies that lower the cost of making, delivering and monitoring the treatment. It will also help build the policies, partnerships and manufacturing capacity needed to bring these innovations to people in Uganda and across sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 40 million people worldwide live with HIV. Most require daily medication for life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zq6MkZLAHk The ultimate goal is to reimagine how HIV cures are developed with scientific innovation, affordability, manufacturability and equitable access as inseparable goals. IMMUNEQUITY brings together Canadian and Ugandan researchers from the outset, rather than developing a cure in Canada and addressing access in lower-income countries later. “This substantial investment will help Western researchers and our partners tackle a long-standing health challenge that continues to affect millions around the world,” said Western President Alan Shepard. “We’re grateful for the initiative and leadership of all those involved in the IMMUNEQUITY partnership.” For Arts, Western’s Canada Research Chair in HIV Pathogenesis and Viral Control, the funding represents a major step forward for an idea that has been years in development. “The pattern for too long has been to develop a treatment in a high-income country and, years later, it makes its way to lower-income countries. And these countries may not even have the capacity to produce it,” said Arts, a microbiology and immunology professor at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. “We have an opportunity to change that with IMMUNEQUITY.” While maintaining the quality and safety needed for widespread use in sub-Saharan Africa, IMMUNEQUITY will also advance frugal innovations to make HIV diagnosis and monitoring and biotherapeutic production more affordable and practical. The biomedical engineering team will develop smaller, more efficient manufacturing approaches to ensure safe, temperature-controlled transportation and storage of therapeutics. To support this work, the Western team also includes medical biophysics professors Maria Drangova and David Holdsworth, engineering professors James Lacefield and Arghya Paul and Margaret Mutumba, director of Western’s Africa Institute and Frugal Biomedical Innovations. “This support from the Canadian government provides the opportunity to really make a difference,” said Arts, IMMUNEQUITY’s principal investigator. “Studying a disease and being able to treat a disease are two very different things.” The first priority is to produce a biotherapeutic, a treatment made from living organisms, at Western’s new Pathogen Research Centre, creating a potential HIV cure suitable for first-in-human studies. Currently under construction at Western Research Parks, the Pathogen Research Centre will bring advanced containment, real-world testing environments and clinical-scale therapeutic manufacturing together under one roof. The $44-million facility is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2027.  

Human trials planned in Canada, Uganda

IMMUNEQUITY is pursuing two promising approaches to an HIV cure in parallel. At UBC, Peter Zandstra and his collaborators are advancing a distinct yet complementary biotherapeutic approach alongside Western’s, giving IMMUNEQUITY two opportunities to advance its goal of an effective, scalable and accessible HIV cure. The six-year program is expected to include the first-in-human studies in Canada and Uganda, building on years of research to prepare the new treatments for clinical testing. “An investment of this scale would not have been possible with an idea alone,” said Arts. “We first had to generate substantial preclinical evidence showing these therapeutic approaches have the potential to work in humans.”  

Building equity from the start

Ugandan partners include Dr. Cissy Kityo Mutuluuza, DSc’25, and colleagues at the Joint Clinical Research Centre and Makerere University in Kampala, building on decades of HIV research and clinical experience in Uganda. The project also involves industry partners, including Toronto-based SHC Therapeutics, and expertise in biomanufacturing and commercialization. “For Uganda, this is the chance to prove an HIV cure works at home, working alongside Canada rather than years behind it. What makes this support for IMMUNEQUITY so transformative is that it embeds health equity directly into the scientific process from day one,” said Kityo Mutuluuza. “Together, we are setting a new blueprint for how therapies should be co-developed and delivered globally.” The goal is to develop a scientifically effective therapy that can be manufactured at scale and made affordable across different health-care settings. “One of the real strengths of this collaboration is that Canada has the depth of expertise and infrastructure to assemble a world-class team of its own,” said Arts. “We have the scientific, engineering and manufacturing capabilities to advance this work here in Canada. Working with partners in Uganda every step of the way gives us an opportunity to help develop a potential HIV cure that can also be produced and made accessible where it is needed most.” Learn more about how Western is optimizing health for all.