DESTINATION OF FUNDS
THE FOUNDATION
Since we created the Fight AIDS Foundation more than 30 years ago, our medical and scientific team has been developing cutting-edge research in the field of infections, which last year led us to change our name to Fight Infections Foundation.
AIDS was initially at the centre of our research, and we managed to place ourselves at the forefront of the global fight against the HIV virus. It has now become a chronic disease with an almost normal life expectancy, and we have recently developed a first clinical trial for a therapeutic vaccine against HIV, with promising results showing 40% of patients with the vaccine being able to better control the virus than those without it. However, the challenges in science remain countless.
The excellent research of all these years has allowed us to study the immune system in depth, and to expand our knowledge to other areas of medicine that relate to viruses affecting broader demographics, like SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox and other sexually transmitted diseases.
This is why the Foundation has taken a step forward towards new lines of research focusing on infectious diseases beyond AIDS. We are addressing the main challenges stemming from six fields of knowledge: HIV, COVID, sexually transmitted infections, infection in immunocompromised patients, severe bacterial and multi-resistant germ infections, as well as global health and neglected diseases.
All this research would not be possible without the contributions made by thousands of people and businesses, who have always shown their commitment to science and to global health. I wish to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for all this support. However, we still have a long way to go in facing the challenges of the present and the future. We have to prepare for potential new pandemics and new biomedical challenges like microbiome, ageing, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, among others.
Dr. Bonaventura Clotet
OUR RESEARCH
Thanks to your solidarity we will be able to continue with our fight: ending infectious diseases in their broadest aspect and working every day to provide solutions for people suffering them. How are we going to do this? We will keep our mainstay, the fight against HIV/AIDS, but we will also work to combat emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19 and monkeypox, as well as those affecting vulnerable populations and world health, among others.
Contributions received at the People in Red Gala will be the seed for many projects of the Fight Infections Foundation and IrsiCaixa, both under the direction of Doctor Bonaventura Clotet. Below, we detail some of the research fields and projects on which we are working.
The road to the eradication of HIV: Despite great strides in the fight against HIV, the scientific world continues its daily work to find better methods of prevention and treatment, and a cure against infection from the virus. With the aim of eradicating this illness, our team works on different lines of research, such as the development of preventive and therapeutic vaccines, the design of synthetic antibodies against HIV, the study of mechanisms allowing to cure people undergoing a stem cell transplant, assistance in aging with HIV, and many others.
The COVID-19 pandemic:The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 has changed the world and, with it, our research. Right from the beginning of this health emergency, we have kickstarted over 20 projects which have allowed us to be at the forefront of the fight against this new emerging virus. Our team continues to work tirelessly in the understanding of the protection of the population against COVID-19, designing new vaccines and treatments against SARS-CoV-2 and seeking new strategies that will allow the return of much-anticipated normality. We are also investing a lot of effort in understanding and treating persistent COVID, which affects people who continue to suffer symptoms over 3 mnonths after being infected with SARS-CoV-2.
Global health and neglected diseases affecting the most vulnerable: After the pandemic, infectious pathogens have amply shown that they are a grave danger. This is why infectious diseases need to be studied in depth, and health must be understood as a single worldwide system, encompassing the health of humans, animals and the environment. This is why we have launched lines of research focusing on the One Health concept, as well as on emerging viruses such as Ebola, Zika and the Nile virus, and also on the eradication of other diseases the WHO considers to be neglected, such as schistosomiasis and yaws, among others.
Resistance to antibiotics and infections in immunocompromised people: We are seeing increasing cases of bacteria that have acquired resistance to antibiotics, to the extent that it has become one of the main challenges facing the medical and scientific community. The Fight Infections Foundation proposes solutions for infections from this kind of bacteria, which put the lives of many people at risk. We are also working to improve both assistance and treatment of infections affecting people with a compromised immune system who, therefore, have more difficulties in defending themselves from infectious agents.
Beyond infectious diseases: The study of infectious diseases for over 30 years has allowed us to accumulate a vast knowledge about the immune system, which is the backbone of biomedical research. This has led us to expand our lines of research by applying our experience to other diseases in which the immune system plays a key role, such as cancer, aging and neurodegenerative diseases, among others. With cancer, we are creating immunotherapeutic vaccines that can direct the immune response against cancer cells. In the field of neurodegenerative diseases, we are researching drugs that can arrest cognitive deterioration, like lamivudine.
