Associated Press - Sunday October 7, 2001
Emma Tinkler, Associated Press Writer

Dozens of vaccine prototypes are under development around the world, with some 9,000 people participating in clinical trials, said Margaret Johnston, associate director of AIDS vaccines at the National Institutes of Health in the United States.

"There's never been more optimism than there is now that an HIV vaccine can be identified," Johnston told delegates to the 6th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Melbourne.

"However, we don't know what it will look like just yet. We don't know how it will act. Clinical trials will take a long time and it's likely the first (vaccines) ... will not be 100 percent effective," she added.

Some 36 million people around the world are living with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, according to the United Nations AIDS agency, UNAIDS. Since the epidemic began about 20 years ago, AIDS has killed almost 22 million people.

Johnston said the most advanced vaccine now being tested is GP-120, developed by the California-based VaxGen biotech company. The product is made from a protein that forms the outer surface of the HIV virus and stimulates antibodies to neutralize or stop the virus from spreading.

Now being tested in Thailand, North America and the Netherlands, results could be available as early as next month. If they are promising, another larger trial over 3 years would be conducted, she said.

"The very soonest we can have a vaccine is maybe four to five years from now and that's wildly optimistic - more likely in the real world (it) will take seven to nine or 10 years," Johnston said.

Johnston said it was anticipated a future vaccine would protect people from contracting HIV/AIDS and, when given to those who already have the virus, prevent its spread.

Production costs and pricing were difficult to estimate, she said. Costs would be increased by the need to license and buy patent rights, while manufacturing costs would depend on the vaccine design, Johnston said.

"For example, a DNA-based vaccine might be mass-produced at a cost of pennies to dollars per dose. But a vaccine that requires a more high-tech approach to manufacturing will likely cost tens of dollars if not $100 or more to produce," she added.

Johnston said a purchase fund of between $500 million and $1 billion - set up by the World Bank and other international bodies - would encourage the drug companies to produce the vaccine, and ensure it was available to those countries most in need of it.
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