We are pleased to share with you some exciting updates from the 2016 Gilead Australia Fellowship Research Grants Program. Throughout 2016, grant recipients conducted their research with the aim of informing and shaping best practice in patient care across HIV and chronic viral hepatitis.
The research outcomes are presented in a series of short video clips, which have been developed by each of the recipients. To find out more about their key findings, implications for best practice and plans for future research, click on the video links below.
Over the past two decades, continued improvements in the understanding of HIV, chronic viral hepatitis and haematological oncology have led to the development of significant new treatments, with multiple therapeutic options now available in these disease areas. As a result, many patients are living longer and have an improved quality of life.
Gilead Sciences Pty Ltd is proud to work in partnership with the Australian research and clinical community to provide opportunities for ongoing scientific investigation and research. However, while much research at a basic science and clinical trial level is focused on drug discovery and evaluation, Gilead recognises that a key part of improving patient care in real terms is the development of approaches to diagnosis, treatment and education at a local practice level. Learnings from successful initiatives can be applied to other communities and/or replicated in other parts of the country, to provide practical solutions to current challenges across HIV, chronic viral hepatitis and haematological oncology.
The aim of the Gilead Australia Fellowship: Research Grants Program is to support the development, exploration and implementation of best practice in enhancing patient care in the specific disease areas of HIV, chronic viral hepatitis and haematological oncology.
Grant awarded: $20,000
Interferon-based therapies have exhibited poor efficacy and significant toxicity in the HIV/HCV population. Fortunately, early reports indicate direct acting antiviral (DAA) drugs exhibit excellent safety and efficacy in HIV-positive and -negative individuals. Evaluating different strategies for introducing DAAs into the HIV/HCV population is essential for reducing population level viraemia and interrupting future HCV transmission.
This project was designed to investigate DAA treatment strategies that could lead to long-term near elimination of HCV infection in Australia’s HIV+ MSM (men who have sex with men) population. In the early part of the last decade, HCV incidence among Australia’s HIV+ population increased, but has since plateaued. The introduction of DAAs is likely to reduce future HCV incidence, however, it is important that treatment reaches those who inject drugs and engage in high-risk sexual practices.
It is hoped these findings will inform public health initiatives to expand DAA use in Australia and, ultimately help to maximise the benefit of DAAs. Upcoming research will monitor future HCV incidence in Australia’s HIV+ population, evaluate useful initiatives in the Australian HIV+, non-MSM population, and identify potential differences in the public health benefits of different DAA regimens.
Grant awarded: $20,000
This fellowship focused on monitoring HIV diversity Australia-wide, employing a phylogenetic approach to map HIV subtypes. The Australian Molecular Epidemiology Network (AMEN) was used, involving all Australian states and HIV-1 sequences from ~5000 patients. Further, the prevalence of tenofovir resistance in Western Australia was also assessed.
This study has demonstrated an increasing HIV-1 diversity in Australia and an alarming increased rate of new HIV infections in Australia. Having more ‘visibility’ on HIV epidemiology at the population level can improve patient outcomes and inform rational prevention strategies that can alter recent increasing trends in the Australian HIV epidemic.
Grant awarded: $50,000
Treatment is not only necessary to reduce the continuing burden of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and related liver disease, but also to potentially reduce morbidity by preventing additional infections in high prevalence populations, such as people who inject drugs. With the availability of new simple-dosing regimen HCV treatments, further efforts can be made to increase access to treatment.
This project aims to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of delivering treatment for HCV to people who inject drugs through an opioid substitution treatment (OST) program within a primary healthcare service, regardless of their participation in OST or opioid dependence.
Thus far, one third of clients commencing treatment have opted for individualised dosing plans. Client and staff feedback reflects that this approach is both acceptable and feasible to expand access to HCV treatment.
Expanding access to HCV treatment through OST or similar programs regardless of participation, as well as individualised adherence and dosing plans, should be considered for clients who may need additional support.
Further examination of treatment outcomes will continue into 2017 and future research related to this approach to expand access for HCV treatment will include analysis to identify predictors of treatment completion when clients receive individualised treatment plans through the OST program.
Grant awarded: $20,000
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects 34 million people per year and transmission is primarily among people who inject drugs (PWID) in high-income countries. Incarceration is an independent risk factor for transmission and HCV incidence in custodial settings internationally is estimated at 16 cases per 100 person-years.
St Vincent’s Hospital and Department of Justice established the state-wide prison hepatitis management program in 2015 to rapidly increase HCV treatment uptake. The purpose of this research was to:
Thus far, over 850 people have been assessed for HCV and more than 350 people have started treatment. The outcomes of treatment in prison settings have been similar to those in the community; and there has been only one documented case of reinfection.
These findings demonstrate that delivering HCV treatment in prisons is highly feasible. Monitoring new HCV cases and the burden of disease moving forward will be critical in measuring the wider impact of treatment.
Grant awarded: $20,000
People living in rural, regional and remote areas of Queensland have limited access to a myriad of health services, including sexual health and HIV testing. This potentially attributes to infrequent rates of testing and leads to undiagnosed cases of HIV and STIs among those most at risk, such as men who have sex with men (MSM). Community-based testing provides an alternative testing service and can be beneficial to individuals who face barriers in accessing healthcare services. There is evidence to suggest that HIV testing from a mobile clinic van in community sites is acceptable among MSM who live in metropolitan areas.
This project implemented a time-limited, peer-led mobile clinic van intervention in Toowoomba to determine if it is a feasible and acceptable method for regional MSM to engage with HIV testing in regional, resource-limited settings. Additional objectives of the research were to ascertain whether the use of ‘online’ networks and respondent-driven sampling were acceptable recruitment methods, and to determine regional MSM’s attitudes towards and future use of accessing a postal home HIV test kit.
Findings indicate that acceptability of testing from a mobile van clinic is high and that such a service would increase testing frequency. Although 10 participants would agree to refer friends for HIV/STI testing via an incentive coupon, none of the participants took part in respondent driven sampling.
Future research may seek to compare data between HIV point of care testing in regional and urban settings and develop referral pathways, promotion and evaluation regarding self-testing options.
Grant awarded: $40,000
Grant awarded: $20,000
Mother to baby transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) results in chronic infection in 90% of newborns and treatment is rarely curative; prevention is therefore critical. This project assessed mother-to-baby transmission of HBV and aimed to:
The research findings were recently presented at European Association for the Study of Liver (EASL) congress and it is hoped these will also be in publication in early 2017.
Grant awarded: $20,000
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have significantly higher rates of HBV infection and the complications of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer compared with non-Indigenous populations in Australia. Cairns Sexual Health Service developed and focus tested a hepatitis B toolkit of locally produced resources and promotional material for staff and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Far North Queensland, with the aim of raising awareness of CHB and improving pathways between communities, health services (and the local correctional centre) and patients.
Focus testing showed a divide between what the health professional would like the patient to know, and what the community member was interested in hearing and reading. It also showed that the style, vocabulary and jargon of a resource written by health professionals were perceived as overly wordy and unclear by community members. Translating the document to be useful for both health staff and useful in a low literacy situation proved difficult, and an understanding was also reached that these resources were only to assist in conversations with the community rather than being their only explanation of CHB.
Far North Queensland is at the brink of key developments and achievements in community literacy, participation, clinical management and treatment of CHB. Key stakeholders and clinicians in Far North Queensland represent a diverse range of experience, backgrounds, and ideas for moving forward with CHB management, hence there is a need to bring this network together and produce communication that is consistent and agreed upon by them, and is also acceptable to the community.
Grant awarded: $50,000
For many patients with HIV living in Victoria, their HIV care is managed by a GP at one of the three high HIV caseload GP clinics in Melbourne (Prahran Market Clinic, Centre Clinic, and Northside Clinic). These patients often obtain their antiretrovirals from The Alfred or Melbourne Sexual Health Centre pharmacy, and anecdotally we find that a complete review of their medications can be difficult in the hospital pharmacy dispensary setting. We hypothesised that integrating the HIV pharmacist into the high HIV caseload GP clinics to perform medication reviews will demonstrate that medication-related problems (MRPs) can be effectively identified and managed.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a HIV specialist pharmacist consultation based within high HIV caseload GP clinics, we assessed the number and types of MRPs identified by pharmacists.
One hundred patients that were HIV+ were recruited over the 5-month recruitment phase across the three high HIV caseload GP clinics. A total of 550 MRPs were identified, with 262 of these being of significant risk (moderate or high risk) and recommendations for their management made by the pharmacist. Preliminary results indicate about two thirds of the significant MRPs have been resolved.
These findings suggest that this innovative model of integrating a clinical (specialised) pharmacist into GP practices could help facilitate improved care in the ageing HIV ambulatory population.
Highlights from the Gilead Australia Fellowship: Research Grants Program Best Practice Sharing Symposium
How previous Fellowship grant recipients are working to improve patient care in the areas of HIV and chronic viral hepatitis
HIV-positive children transitioning to adolescence and adulthood
Assessing neurocognition, mood and adherence in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) HIV-positive persons
Understanding losses to follow-up from HIV care and interventions to re-engage lost patients
Barriers to HIV-therapy adherence
HIV testing patterns and behaviours in the Vietnamese migrant population in Queensland
Animating hepatitis B: youth as agents of change
Understanding hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals in a cohort of people who inject drugs
Animated films as a medium to raise Hepatitis B community awareness
Psychosocial Screening Tool to improve uptake of HCV Treatment
‘B in IT’ Community Based Care for CHB
Fibrocare: improving chronic HCV assessment in general practice using Fibroscans
Salivary Rapid Testing for Hepatitis B in remote Indigenous communities
Facilitating Hepatitis B screening and treatment in the Hmong community of North Queensland
Virological failure in the Second-Line study and relationship to plasma drug levels
Coming in 2018 after the first haematological oncology projects from 2017 are completed