July 2011 – In 2010, the number of people receiving ART grew by 1.3 million from 5.3 to 6.6 million. Yet, 2.6 million new infections and 1.8 million AIDS deaths occurred. New infections continue to outpace the number of people placed on treatment by 2:1. This ratio is not fixed by fate but is due to continued uncontrolled spread of HIV combined with still inadequate scale-up. Insufficient and unreliable funding poses a significant threat to ensuring that those now receiving treatment are able to stay on it, while threatening to close off treatment to those who will need to start therapy over the coming years.

To measure progress and assess whether funding levels are adequate and properly invested in the most promising science, TAG and AVAC sought to document the world’s investment in developing new or enhancing existing HIV therapeutic regimens and strategies by examining R&D spending and establish an investment baseline, starting with the year 2009.

The report, An Exploratory Analysis of HIV Treatment Research and Development Investments in 2009, found that 48 funders worldwide (of 144 surveyed) reported investing $US 2.46 billion across six HIV-related research categories—basic science, drug discovery and development, operational and implementation science, antiretroviral prevention, applied/infrastructure and HIV diagnostics.

Monitoring investments in HIV is essential for understanding and measuring global progress to address HIV/AIDS and achieve access for 15 million people by 2015. This report marks the beginning of an ongoing effort to monitor global investments in HIV treatment research and complements the ongoing efforts of the HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group which has been reporting on HIV prevention technology investments since 2004.

The HIV Treatment Research and Development Resource Tracking Project is a collaborative initiative of the Treatment Action Group (TAG) and AVAC, directed and managed by TAG, in collaboration with UNAIDS.

An Exploratory Analysis of HIV Treatment Research and Development Investments in 2009, was released at the 6th International AIDS Conference on HIV pathogenesis, treatment and prevention in Rome, Italy.