The Fenway Institute is proud to announce the enrollment of the 75th and final participant in the AMP (HPTN 085) study.
AMP (Antibody Mediated Prevention) is an HIV prevention study that tests the efficacy of an experimental antibody at protecting an individual from contracting the HIV virus. This study has enrolled almost 2,000 cis men and transgender people who have sex with men in North America, South America, and Switzerland.
Antibodies are naturally created by our bodies to ward off infections. Researchers can also create antibodies in a laboratory. Researchers created the VRC01 antibody in a laboratory to act against HIV. They were able to create this antibody after discovering a person living with HIV whose body was able to control the infection without antiviral medication. This gave researchers hope that this antibody may potentially be able to stop HIV from spreading throughout the body.
Over the past 18 months the Fenway Institute staff has worked as a team to recruit and enroll participants. The recruitment team worked hard to form partnerships with LGBTQ+ organizations throughout Boston and post innovative advertisements to disseminate information about this study. This effort, in combination with the dedication of our participants to give back to the LGBTQ+ community, allowed the biomedical team at the Fenway Institute to perform 115 screening visits during the past 18 months.
With our final participant enrolled, we are now on our way to determining if this antibody could potentially be a new form of protection against HIV. By choosing to enroll, participants agreed to join the study for a period of 22 months. Throughout this time they have committed to spending countless hours with our study staff to determine the efficacy of the VRC01 antibody. Though the results of this study will not be available for the next few years, we are hopeful and excited to see the impact that this could have on HIV research! We would like to thank all of those individuals who chose to invest their time and effort into this study. Together, we can work towards discovering more choices to prevent new HIV infections!
If you are interested in getting involved in any of our research studies, please call the Recruitment Team at 617.927.6450 or visit our website.
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