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HIV remains a major global health issue, with the burden of the epidemic disproportionately falling on low- and middle-income countries. Progress in HIV prevention, most notably pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), has been slow to reach those most in need.
Traditionally, there has been a reluctance to involve pregnant people in clinical trials due to complex ethical issues surrounding the risk to unborn babies. However it is crucial that new interventions are safe and effective for all patients and ensuring this can be difficult to achieve in the absence of clinical trials.
Clinical trials are required to ensure new treatments are safe and effective for patients. The involvement of participants in the planning and execution of clinical trials is critical not only to their success but also so that the participating communities can benefit from them.
Despite the significant advances made in our understanding of cancer and how to treat it over the last hundred years, there are wide global disparities in access to cancer care and in who gets to benefit from cutting-edge cancer research.
Recent years have seen rapid advances in the preclinical development and clinical evaluation of oncolytic (cancer-lysing) virus-based therapies, and these are emerging as treatment modality for some cancers. There are challenges to address, however, if we are to maximize the impact of these therapies in patients.