Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - March 23, 2008
Claire Keeton

The parastatal has pulled the plug on its R15-million funding to the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (Saavi), leaving it short of a third of its budget.

The worst-hit programme is the vaccine development project, which designs cutting-edge vaccines and is recognised worldwide.

Two of its vaccines are about to be tested in human clinical trials in the US, a first for a developing country, and the funding crunch could compromise South Africa's contribution to them.

Saavi, a lead project of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), supports vaccine research around the country.

Other projects which will also be affected by the funding shortfall include those being carried out by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa in KwaZulu-Natal, Wits University's Perinatal HIV Research Unit and Medunsa at the University of Limpopo.

Saavi's bleak outlook came to light at the end of February when it informed about a dozen top researchers that funding had stopped, although many had not received any grants since last September.

Saavi interim director Elise Levendal acknowledged the threat to AIDS vaccine research in South Africa on Thursday.

"We are very worried about the future of vaccine research. All the funding agreements came to an end in 2007," she said.

Levendal said Eskom announced in February that it could no longer fund Saavi.

She said the Department of Science and Technology - which gave the initiative roughly R15-million a year - will not commit to further funding until Saavi governance had been restructured and the Health Department, which stumps up R10-million, had promised to renew its funding commitments.

Eksom with R15 million per annum; the Department of Science and Technology for roughly R15 million per annum; and the Department of Health for R10 million per annum.

The funding crisis has forced many principal investigators who run projects to curb spending, halt some of their activities and redeploy highly skilled staff.

Science and Technology Department spokesman Kristin Klose said: "We are currently revising our allocation to Saavi after three independent reviews ... but in the interim we have transferred funds. We do not want to pull the rug out from under them."

But Klose warned: "We need to relook at the corporate form of Saavi, as well as its strategic and research focus."

Professor Malegapuru William Makgoba, a member of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, said: "Saavi plays an important role in vaccine development and its model was ahead globally."

The vaccine initiative brings together basic scientists, clinicians, ethicists and community workers.

Professor Clive Gray from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said another concern was that South Africa would lose top scientists, emerging scientists and valuable and scarce skills if funding was not found.

"We have spent years training young scientists who are emerging in their own right. What is going to happen to these budding scientists?"

The future of clinical trial sites in South Africa was another issue. Setting up sites and mobilising communities to enrol as volunteers is a huge investment.

Professor Gavin Churchyard, CEO of the Aurum Institute for Health Research, said: "We have a big imperative to keep these trial sites going. We must be part of the global effort to find a vaccine."

Given South Africa's stature in the global vaccine field, it was difficult to find out why funding is drying up.

Meanwhile, sources raised concerns off the record about Saavi's management and the role of the SAMRC.

Saavi has not had a full-time director for three years, since Dr Tim Tucker left and Levendal, a community health nurse with public health qualifications, took over in an acting capacity. She is a close associate of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala -Msimang.

An AIDS vaccine, which is a long way off, is considered to be the best hope for overcoming the epidemic that has infected and killed millions in South Africa. Eksom with R15 million per annum; the Department of Science and Technology for roughly R15 million per annum; and the Department of Health for R10 million per annum.

The shortfall has led to many principal investigators who run projects were shocked to hear their funding had crashed two years into their three year cycles.

They have been warned to:

# being told to halt some of their activities; curb spending; and re-deploy highly skilled staff.

Science and Technology spokeswoman Kristin Klose said: "We are currently revising our allocation to SAAVI after three independent reviews ... but in the interim we have transferred funds.

"We do not want to pull the rug out from under them."

But Klose warned: "We need to re-look the corporate form of SAAVI, as well as its strategic and research focus."

However, researchers have been told that funding has run out and they are carrying costs from September last year.

Professor Malegapuru William Makgoba, a member of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, said the loss of SAAVI would be a blow as it had been an inspiration to the world.

The initiative brings together basic scientists, clinicians, ethicists and community workers.

He said: "SAAVI's model was ahead globally, and plays an important role in vaccine development."

Professor Clive Gray, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, raised a common concern that if funding disappeared, said another concern was that South Africa would lose top scientists, emerging scientists and valuable and scarce skills if funding was not found.

"We have spent years training young scientists who are emerging in their own right. What is going to happen to these budding scientists?"

The future of clinical trial sites in South Africa was another issue. Setting up sites and mobilising communities to enrol as volunteers is a huge investment.

Professor Gavin Churchyard, CEO of Aurum Institute for Health Research, said: "We have a big imperative to keep these trial sites going. We must be part of the global effort to find a vaccine."

Given South Africa's stature in the global vaccine field, it was difficult to find out why funding is drying up.

Meanwhile, several sources raised concerns about SAAVI's management and the Medical Research Council; SAAVI is a MRC lead project.

Klose said: "We need to re-look the corporate form of SAAVI, as well as its strategic and research focus."

SAAVI has not had a full-time director for three years since Dr Tim Tucker left and Levendal, a community health nurse with public health qualifications, took over in an acting capacity.

Those in the field have suggested this is a sign that politics is trumping science as Levendal is a close contact of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

CRUCIAL AIDS vaccine programmes are under threat as major funders pull out of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

The most immediate project at risk is an funding crisis could jeopardise international clinical trial involving two locally developed vaccines scheduled to start in the US in just over a month.

The vaccines, developed under the auspices of the SAAVI, have been approved for trial in the US - a first for a developing country.

The vaccine development unit at the University of Cape Town has committed to do stability testing of these vaccines in SA on a regular basis until 2010 to support the trials in the US and a failure to deliver could torpedo this collaboration.

The worst hit project will be the vaccine development programme, which receives the most funding and designs cutting edge vaccines.

SOUTH Africa's AIDS vaccine programme is threatened by a collapse in funding - at a time when South Africa has made history by having its vaccines approved for human testing in the US.

The South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative told about a dozen top researchers that their funding had stopped at the end of February.

SAAVI supports projects for developing AIDS vaccines, testing vaccines in volunteers at clinical trials sites from Soweto to Cape Town, and for conducting world-class laboratory research.

Tens of millions of rand are at stake and the programmes have not received any grants since September last year.

A scientist in the international AIDS vaccine arena leaked this information to the Sunday Times - expressing concern that SA will compromise its reputation as a global leader as well as its partnerships if funding of SAAVI is slashed.

Two South African vaccines are to be tested in clinical trials in the US starting in the next six weeks.

This is the first time that vaccines from a developing country have been approved for trial in a first world country.

The vaccine development unit at UCT and the CSIR has also committed to do stability testing of these vaccines on a regular basis until 2010, and a failure to deliver could jeopardise the trial.

The two vaccines approved for testing in the US were submitted for approval to the Medicines Control Council in Pretoria in February.

An AIDS vaccine, which is a long way off, is considered to be the best hope for overcoming the epidemic which has killed millions in South Africa.

SAAVI interim director Elise Levendal said on Thursday: "We are very worried about the future of vaccine research. All the funding agreements came to an end in 2007."

Many principal investigators who run projects were shocked to hear their funding had crashed two years into their three year cycles.

They have been warned to:

# halt some of their activities;

# curb spending; and

# re-deploy highly skilled staff.

SAAVI's major funders have been Eksom with R15 million per annum; the Department of Science and Technology for roughly R15 million per annum; and the Department of Health for R10 million per annum.

Levendal said that Eskom announced in February that it could no longer fund SAAVI due to its own constraints.

The Department of Science and Technology will not commit to further funding until SAAVI governance has been re-structured and the Health Department has promised to renew its funding commitments, she said.

Science and Technology spokeswoman Kristin Klose said: "We are currently revising our allocation to SAAVI after three independent reviews ... but in the interim we have transferred funds.

"We do not want to pull the rug out from under them."

However, researchers have been told that funding has run out and they are carrying costs from September last year.

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