Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc.; Sunday June 28 1:18 PM EDT
Patricia Reaney
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), an independent non-profit scientific organization, released its "scientific blueprint" designed to advance progress in preventative vaccines against the HIV virus that causes AIDS and to get them into trials in developing countries where they are needed most.
"Only a vaccine has any chance of ending the global AIDS epidemic. However the world is not on track to meet the goal of a safe and effective AIDS vaccine in the next decade," Dr Seth Berkeley, the president of IAVI, told a news conference.
"The purpose of this program outlined here is to put vaccine development back on a fast track. This is our best hope of stopping the epidemic that has continued to gallop along with the current 16,000 newly infected persons each day." IAVI plans to identify gaps in scientific development, provide technical assistance in poorer countries and to encourage public and private collaboration in vaccine research.
It is also recommending the creation of up to six international product development teams to identity promising vaccines and get them into trials quickly.
The first large-scale human trials of a vaccine against the HIV virus began in the United States earlier this month but there are no other drugs in the pipeline that are due to enter phase III, or late-stage, efficacy trials before 2000.
The vaccine, AIDSVAX, developed by the California biotechnology company VanGen, is being tested in several centers in the United States and is also being considered for trials in Thailand, where the virus is spreading fast. More than 40 potential vaccines are being tested but AIDSVAX is the first to go into human trials.
Combination drug therapies have prolonged the lives of AIDS sufferers in Europe and North America, but their prohibitive costs -- up to $20,000 a year -- mean 90 percent of people infected with HIV/AIDS and living in the developing world are not receiving treatment.
The epidemic is so rampant that in certain areas of Africa one in four adults is infected with HIV.
"The global need for a vaccine is urgent," Berkeley said. "Developing countries should become full partners in vaccine development."
Progress in vaccine development has been slow because the HIV virus is so complicated. There are now ten or more genetic subtypes of HIV which occur in different areas of the world.
The IAVI is pushing for HIV vaccines to be a top research and development priority which it says should be reflected in funding levels.
Research, prevention and treatment of AIDS is costing the world community an estimated $18 billion a year. Only a fraction of that -- $5 million -- is being spent on research for a vaccine for use in developing countries.
IAVI estimates that developing an AIDS vaccine could cost about $350 million, which it claims is cheaper than the developmental costs of many new drugs. IAIV, which was founded in the United States two years ago, receives sponsorship from the World Bank, the Levi Strauss Foundation and has also received a $1.5 million donation from the William H. Gates foundation, set up by the chairman of Microsoft Corp and his wife Melinda.
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