Material and financial support for the research being conducted from the HIV Cure Center comes from a broad base. UNC and ViiV, through Qura Therapeutics, a company co-founded by GSK and UNC-CH, provide financial and material support to the partnership. In October of 2018, the ViiV Healthcare Discovery Unit and GSK’s HIV Discovery Performance Unit (DPU) merged and ViiV assumed GSK roles and responsibilities as it pertains to the partnership. ViiV is contributing a team of experienced scientists with ongoing HIV cure programs and associated assets, as well as expertise and know-how in medicines discovery, drug development and manufacturing.
UNC-Chapel Hill is bringing its research expertise and translational medicine capabilities and talent, as well as access to patients and HIV Cure focused research funding. Qura Therapeutics is providing the funding for a subset of research projects in the Center. In addition to the Qura Therapeutics funding, Principal Investigators and staff of the UNC HIV Cure Center are supported by other funding sources, which includes federal funds and foundation grants. In July 2015, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received $28 million over five years to continue their innovative “kick and kill” strategy for eradicating HIV. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) selected CARE, the Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication, which is based at UNC, for refunding after a competitive application process.
Additional diversification and expansion of the funding base for the UNC HIV Cure Center is actively and continuously being pursued.