NIH Strategic Plan for Herpes Research: Overview and Realistic Expectations
There is a lot of buzz 🐝when it comes to herpes these days! In mid-September, the @nihgov released its Strategic Plan for Herpes Research.
Yesterday, @fredhutch (Fred Hutch Cancer Center) shared a video of Dr. Keith Jerome, a virologist who focuses his research on herpes simplex, who provided an additional update. Additionally, it was announced that Rational Vaccines was awarded $2.8 million to advance herpes research.
I want to be clear in that advanced herpes research is needed in so many ways. This is an important step. Unfortunately, there are also media outlets who take the culmination of these three pieces of related news (NIH’s plan, Jerome’s update, and the vaccine funding) to mean that a cure is imminent. While a “functional cure” is a goal, it isn’t promised, and it certainly won’t be any time soon.
I read the 28-page plan provided by NIH and created an overview of each of the four priorities:
1. Improve fundamental knowledge of HSV biology, pathogenesis, and epidemiology
2. Accelerate research to improve HSV diagnoses
3. Improve strategies to treat and cure HSV
4. Advance research to prevent HSV infection
Of 105 respondents to NIH’s Request for Information to its HSV Strategic Plan, here are some of the following requested topics in order of most reported:
• Need for Better Diagnostics
• Public Health Education
• Mental Health Impacts, Depression, Suicidality
• Vaccine Development (tied with above)
• Transmission Concerns
• Pregnancy Health/ transmission to neonates
• Neurological Impacts
• Address and reduce social stigma
• Increased funding
• Include HSV on Universal STI panel
(NIH HSV Strategic Plan 2023)
We will begin to see more groups being funded, and I will provide insight on who they are and what they do, and what they have done in the past (cough cough).
While the media focuses on a “cure” I want to highlight that this plan addresses much more than that—which is a good thing.
I’d also like to note that the strategic plan is from 2023-2028. So when considering how soon we’ll see the results of these fundings and advances —it’s gonna be a while!