Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - July 13, 2000
Ulysses Torassa, Examiner Medical Writer
Unfortunately, the wily virus that mutates rapidly is proving as difficult to defeat with a vaccine as it has been for those seeking to eradicate it with drugs.
And despite some symbolic victories, vaccine advocates had little significant progress to report at the 13th International AIDS Conference Thursday.
Although the morning's program was given over to the issues surrounding vaccines, researcher Margaret Liu, a former vice president of Chiron Corp., said she still can't say whether one could be expected on the market by 2007. Asked to address that question in her talk, Liu instead pleaded for increased funding to try to reach that goal.
"We do have the potential to make it a reality," Liu said. "It is imperative to have an increased commitment of not only scientific, but also political and economic forces, from all countries."
Meanwhile, a group of African scientists Thursday called for an African-focused strategy for creating and testing a vaccine.
For one thing, they want more research focused on the strains of HIV that infect the vast majority of Africans. Two-thirds of people worldwide with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Brisbane firm at the front
The only human trials of a vaccine are being done by Brisbane-based VaxGen and are taking place in the United States, Europe and Thailand. And the strain of virus targeted is the kind found in those countries.
"That would be the ultimate irony - success with a vaccine that is useless in Africa," said Jose Esparza, coordinator of a joint vaccine program of the World Health Organization and the United Nations.
But Tom Coates, head of UC-San Francisco's AIDS Research Institute, said the Africans don't have to worry about that happening.
"Nobody's expecting a powerful wallop" from the vaccines being tested, Coates said.
Earlier this week, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative announced it will begin safety tests in humans of a vaccine designed to fight an African viral strain.
The tests will be done simultaneously in England and Kenya, and a British member of Parliament has volunteered to be one of the test subjects. Tests of another vaccine also designed for Africa are expected to get under way in South Africa early next year, said Victor Zonana, vice president for public affairs for the initiative.
'A global commitment'
Although a marketable vaccine remains years away, Zonana said he is heartened to see the amount of interest and resources being marshalled. Seth Berkeley, the initiative's president, told delegates that he had to argue with organizers of the 1998 AIDS conference to get vaccines onto the schedule.
"What's new is there really is a global commitment to AIDS vaccines now," Zonana said. He pointed out that not only vaccine science, but also issues surrounding economics and ethics are being addressed in various sessions.
The initiative, just four years old, has about $100 million in funding, including a $26.5 million gift from the Gates Foundation. Other money has come from the Rockefeller Foundation and the governments of the Netherlands, Canada and Great Britain. The U.S. contribution so far has been $200,000.
Vaccine advocates did receive some good scientific news late Thursday. Italian researchers reported protecting nine of 11 monkeys from HIV by using a new type of vaccine that targets a protein HIV needs to copy itself. Past vaccines have proven disappointing in animal models.
Researchers said the results were encouraging enough to begin human trials in Italy and Uganda soon.
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