When one looks at the fight against HIV/AIDS in the third world, there have been very few victories. We were reminded this week about one significant accomplishment in those regions, that being the fight against Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV. The program Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) provided nevirapine at no cost to infected mothers and newborn babies from 2000 to 2010 as a way to prevent HIV transmission. PMTCT is credited with saving four million babies from HIV infection. Please click here for the final report of the project. I am proud to say that Dr. Riku Rautsola, our President and CEO, was instrumental in launching the Mother-to-Child program when he was with Boehringer Ingleheim. He also co-founded and chaired “Accelerating Access,” which focused on providing low-cost HIV treatments in developing countries. Dr. Rautsola and our team here at VIRxSYS continue the search for breakthrough therapies for the treatment of HIV.
- Gary J. McGarrity, PhD – Executive Vice President of Scientific and Clinical Affairs