About the HPTN
The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) is a worldwide collaborative clinical trials network that develops and tests the safety and efficacy of primarily non-vaccine interventions designed to prevent the transmission of HIV. Established in 1999 and refunded in 2006 by the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the HPTN carries out its mission through a strong network of expert scientists and investigators from more than two dozen international sites partnered with a leadership group comprised of three U.S.-based institutions. Through the coordination of the NIH Office of AIDS Research, other NIH institutes, such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the John E. Fogarty International Center, collaborate with and support the HPTN.
Strengths of the HPTN include:
- Leadership by experts in the prevention sciences
- Coordinated domestic-international research agenda
- Multi-disciplinary study teams of behavioral, clinical, epidemiological, laboratory, operations, and statistical researchers
- Capability to conduct cross-cultural comparisons among different host and viral populations
- Emphasis on community involvement in all aspects of the research process, from trial development through implementation
- Emphasis on ethical guidelines in research
