2005
VAX Bulletin / IAVI Report
VAX is a monthly bulletin published by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) featuring shorter, nontechnical versions of articles from the IAVI Report. VAX is currently available in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish as a pdf or an e-mail bulletin. If you would like to receive VAX by e-mail, please send a request including language preference to: iavireport@iavi.org.
The Vax bulletin is available in 
English (HTML and PDF), 
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Português (PDF).
Vol. 3(12), Dec 2005 -
- Facing a prevention crisis
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- Unfortunately there are still many challenges in South Africa regarding treatment. In our country about 800,000 people currently need treatment and fewer than 110,000 are receiving it. Of these, fewer than 70,000 are in the public sector. That's quite sad. There is also the need to establish second- and third-line regimens for people that fail their initial treatments and provide access to antiretroviral treatment for children.
- WHO and UNAIDS release annual report that focuses on HIV prevention
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recently released their annual report on the global AIDS epidemic. It highlights the progress made by some countries in lowering HIV infection rates despite a continued increase in the total number of people infected with HIV throughout the world. The report, AIDS Epidemic Update 2005, was released in advance of World AIDS Day on December 1st and focuses on the importance of HIV prevention efforts and the need to increase and improve these efforts throughout the world.
- IAVI and Transgene partner on AIDS vaccine research and development
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- IAVI is partnering with Transgene, a French biopharmaceutical company, on the development and production of an AIDS vaccine candidate that uses an adenovirus serotype 35 (Ad35) vector to deliver HIV antigens into the body. The naturally-circulating form of adenovirus causes the common cold in humans and two ongoing AIDS vaccine trials are evaluating adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) as a vector, including a Phase IIb "test of concept" trial with a candidate developed by Merck.
- G7 nations endorse vaccine market mechanism
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- At a meeting of the G7 countries in London earlier this month, finance ministers approved a pilot project to spend approximately US$1 billion that will ultimately aid the development of vaccines for the world's biggest killers: AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The vaccine proposal was developed by the Italian minister, Giulio Tremonti, and will ultimately emphasize the use of Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) to give pharmaceutical companies more incentive to invest in vaccines that they can then sell for a guaranteed price (see September Spotlight, An industrial incentive).
- Vol. 3(11), Nov 2005
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- HIV prevention in a pill?
- If ongoing clinical trials pan out, it's possible that one day people could be cutting their risk of HIV infection simply by popping a couple of pills per day. The pills are cheap, safe, and have been around for years. The catch? These drugs don't target HIV, they fight off herpes.
- Phase II AIDS vaccine trial begins in South Africa
- A clinical trial evaluating the safety and immune responses generated by a candidate AIDS vaccine known as tgAAC09 recently began at three sites in South Africa, including clinics in Soweto, Cape Town, and Medunsa. This is the country's first Phase II AIDS vaccine trial and investigators will enroll and follow 78 volunteers over a period of 18 months.
- First AIDS vaccine trial starts in Rwanda
- A Phase I vaccine trial of a two-part vaccine developed by the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently began enrolling volunteers at a site in Kigali, Rwanda. This is the first AIDS vaccine trial to take place in the country and is being conducted by the NIH, IAVI, and Project San Francisco, a research organization that has been working in Kigali for almost 20 years.
- Merck's HPV vaccine shines in Phase III efficacy trial
- A vaccine to protect women from infection with human papillomavirus (HPV)—a virus that causes cervical cancer and genital warts—was found to be 100% effective at preventing pre-cancerous lesions associated with the strains of the virus that are contained in the vaccine. This is the first report from a large-scale efficacy trial with Merck's HPV vaccine, known as Gardasil.
- Vol. 3 (1), Nov 2004/Jan 2005
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IAVI Report
IAVI Report is a publication on international AIDS vaccine research published bi-monthly by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).
- Vol. 9 (5), Nov/Dec 2005
- Cervical cancer vaccines: Introduction of vaccines that prevent cervical cancer and genital warts may foreshadow implementation and acceptability issues for a future AIDS vaccine
- IAVI Report 2005 Nov/Dec 9(5);1
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- Jessica Kahn is a pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and a professor of medicine who studies sexually-transmitted diseases among adolescents. She is also a mother. And the decisions Kahn makes as a parent are strongly influenced by her day job. "I see herpes and genital warts all day long. And now that there can be vaccines to prevent these things, I know that I definitely want my daughter to get vaccinated."
- Come out, come out: A recent study suggests a novel treatment might flush out latent copies of HIV hiding in the body—and re-ignites discussion over the challenges of eradicating HIV infection
- IAVI Report 2005 Nov/Dec 9(5);2
- Philip Cohen, PhD
- Many researchers who study places that HIV might hide in the body, collectively known as the "reservoir," agree with Margolis that the goal of HIV eradication is worth pursuing, even if they are more reluctant to talk in terms of the c-word. "We just need to be a little bit humble about what we can achieve in the face of a tough problem like this," says Robert Siliciano of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore.
- An interview with Zackie Achmat: Facing a prevention crisis
- IAVI Report 2005 Nov/Dec 9(5);3
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- Zackie Achmat is one of the best known and most important AIDS activists in the world. He co-founded the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in 1998, which is now one of South Africa's preeminent AIDS organizations as well as one of the most influential activist groups anywhere. Since their inception TAC has been a critical proponent for affordable generic antiretrovirals (ARVs) and has challenged the South African government in and out of the courtroom over their slow response in making these medicines available.
- Inventions innovate thyself: To accelerate the discovery of an affordable AIDS vaccine and other crucial health resources, experts say they will need to invent new ways to use intellectual property
- IAVI Report 2005 Nov/Dec 9(5);4
- Philip Cohen, PhD
- Last summer, AIDS vaccine aficionados turned their attention to Brazil partly for the science and partly for the spectacle. The science emanated from the 3rd International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment where the presentations had a strong focus on a wide array of prevention strategies: from circumcision and diaphragms to vaccines. The spectacle was provided by the continuing war of words between Brazil's government and the American pharmaceutical company Abbott over its patent for the antiretroviral (ARV) Kaletra.
- Research Briefs
- IAVI Report 2005 Nov/Dec 9(5);5
- Philip Cohen
- Human proteins with the innate ability to fight off retroviruses are a hot topic since they could form the basis of novel therapeutic approaches. A recent report by Harmit Malik and Michael Emerman at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and their colleagues suggests that at least one of these virus fighters is less powerful now than it may have been in the past
- Vaccine Briefs
- IAVI Report 2005 Nov/Dec 9(5);6
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- A clinical trial evaluating the safety and immunogenicty of tgAAC09, a recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector-based vaccine containing clade C HIV antigens, recently began at three sites in South Africa, including clinics in Soweto, Cape Town, and Medunsa. The randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial will evaluate two inoculations with the candidate at three different doses and two dosing intervals. This is the country's first Phase II AIDS vaccine trial and investigators will enroll and follow 78 volunteers over a period of 18 months.
- Vol. 9 (4), Sep/Oct 2005
- Toll bridge to immunity: Immune molecules hold promise for adjuvant discovery
- IAVI Report 2005 Sep/Oct 9(4);1
- Mary Lee MacKichan, PhD
- Vaccine researchers have long depended on ill-defined additives called adjuvants to potentiate immune responses to immunogens. Injections of even large amounts of foreign protein from a pathogen are rarely enough to register on the radar of an animal's immune system. But add a pinch of an ingredient to the vaccine that bears no relation to the pathogen's protein—say mycobacterial cell wall extracts or alum—and the immune system springs to life.
- Vaccine research lines converge: Vaccinologists working on different diseases met in Germany to exchange ideas—and found that their approaches already have a great deal in common
- IAVI Report 2005 Sep/Oct 9(4);2
- Philip Cohen, PhD
- Experts gathered at the Vaccine Congress 2005 in Berlin this September to compare notes on their progress battling many diseases around the globe. The meeting was titled New Approaches to Vaccine Development: From the bench to the field . Over three days, speakers talked about challenges facing vaccine research, development, and delivery, from basic science to clinical trials, as well as regulatory and safety issues.
- HIV prevention in a pill? Can drugs that combat herpes virus help reduce HIV transmission?
- IAVI Report 2005 Sep/Oct 9(4);3
- Catherine Zandonella, MPH
- If ongoing clinical trials pan out, it's possible that one day people could be cutting their risk of HIV infection simply by popping a couple of pills per day. The pills are cheap, safe, and have been on the market for years. The catch? These drugs don't target HIV, they fight off herpes.
- An Interview with Barton Haynes: A new virtual Center
- IAVI Report 2005 Sep/Oct 9(4);4
- Simon Noble
- Bart Haynes, MD, has been interested in a wide spectrum of immunology during his research career, from autoimmunity—especially rheumatoid arthritis—to thymus biology and thymus transplantation as a curative treatment for DiGeorge syndrome, to HIV soon after it was identified as the causative agent of AIDS in the 1980s. He has long been affiliated with Duke University, North Carolina, having completed his residency training after gaining his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. Haynes began his research career under the mentorship of Sheldon Wolff and Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), before returning to
join the faculty at Duke in 1980.
- Renewed promise: Annual AIDS vaccine meeting highlights recent data from clinical trials and lessons on recruitment and retention of volunteers
- IAVI Report 2005 Sep/Oct 9(4);5
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- Vaccine researchers and immunologists can be forgiven if, at times, they seem overwhelmed by the challenges that lie ahead. Working through the scientific difficulties inherent in developing a vaccine, the disappointing results from clinical trials, and the inconsistent data from animal models could make anyone a little skeptical, if not downright depressed. Seemingly, this despair has not gone unnoticed.
- Research Briefs
- IAVI Report 2005 Sep/Oct 9(4);6
- Philip Cohen
- Two recent reports suggest that the use of the same antiviral taken orally or applied vaginally as a microbicide can prevent immunodeficiency virus infection in a rhesus macaque model. While either treatment was able to lower the frequency of infection, the authors conclude that effective prevention may require a multi-pronged approach with ARVs introduced by both routes, perhaps in combination with a partially-effective vaccine.
- Vaccine Briefs
- IAVI Report 2005 Sep/Oct 9(4);7
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- The VRC has seen an improved response when the DNA and Ad5 are administered in a prime/boost protocol and results from a Phase I trial indicate that the approach produced a robust cellular and antibody response. In the Phase I study there was a 26 month interval between receipt of the prime and boost, but the Phase II trial will evaluate a more typical vaccination schedule.
- Vol. 9 (3), Jul/Aug 2005
- Brazil’s model approach: Recent international conference highlighted the need to partner prevention and treatment in the response to the epidemic
- IAVI Report 2005 Jul/Aug 9(3);1
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- The 3rd International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment was recently held in Rio de Janeiro. But Brazil’s opportunity to host this large international meeting was not only due to the impressive landscape of this seaside city. The country has become a leader among developing countries for its progressive and comprehensive response to the epidemic.
- Cutting HIV transmission: Male circumcision as a potential HIV prevention strategy
- IAVI Report 2005 Jul/Aug 9(3);2
- Sheri Fink, MD, PhD
- While the ultimate hope for stopping the AIDS epidemic, a vaccine, remains years away there may already be a way to effectively cut the sexual transmission of HIV—male circumcision. Scientists in eastern and southern Africa have been studying whether the surgical procedure can protect against HIV infection, and also what it would mean to promote for medical reasons a practice that has long held cultural significance.
- Making a monkey out of HIV: More is becoming clear about a novel host factor that appears central to governing the species-specificity of retroviruses like HIV and could be a future antiviral target
- IAVI Report 2005 Jul/Aug 9(3);3
- Philip Cohen, PhD
- Popular accounts of scientific discoveries often involve a metaphorical light bulb popping up in some researcher's head. In reality, those eureka moments aren’t always so illuminating. The cracking of some unsolved mysteries about HIV last year, for instance, came when cells located in Joseph Sodroski’s lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston failed to shine.
- An Interview with Stephen Lewis: Waiting for a breakthrough
- IAVI Report 2005 Jul/Aug 9(3);4
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- Stephen Lewis is the Special Envoy to the United Nations (UN) for HIV/AIDS in Africa. He has served in this capacity for four years and has become an unwavering voice in the battle for the development of new prevention technologies like AIDS vaccines and microbicides that could help to slow or end the pandemic, as well as for the rights of women.
- If you build it, they will pay: A novel incentive called an Advance Market Commitment could help spur private sector investment in AIDS vaccine research and development
- IAVI Report 2005 Jul/Aug 9(3);5
- Catherine Zandonella, MPH
- What if you could order your dream house, the perfect abode that would take years to design and build to perfection, but only have to pay for it on the day you are ready to move in? Global public health experts are exploring just such a concept, only the "house" is a vaccine for a disease such as AIDS and the people buying it are international foundations and governments that want to provide the vaccine to the poorest nations on the planet.
- Vol. 9 (2), Apr/Jun 2005
- Guardian of the Genome: Research into a different kind of viral defense system may yield powerful treatments and solve some mysteries about HIV
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);1
- Philip Cohen, PhD
- Pioneering work by Sheehy, Malim and their colleagues soon revealed that one of these mutator proteins, dubbed APOBEC3G, is actually on the front line in the battle against HIV, engaged in molecule-to-molecule combat nearly from the moment the virus enters a human cell. After a few years, a flurry of publications from top labs, and many recent twists in the tale, the story of APOBEC3G and similar enzymes has become one of the hottest areas of HIV biology—and researchers speak of these proteins in heroic, one might even say cinematic, terms.
- The role of the SIV model in AIDS vaccine research
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);2
- Thomas C. Friedrich and David I. Watkins
- Despite over twenty years of research, there is still no effective vaccine against HIV. Only one vaccine candidate has been through a Phase III (large-scale efficacy) trial: AIDSVAX (1, 2), a gp120-based candidate that was intended to induce antibody responses against the virus that would prevent individuals from becoming infected with HIV. Although this vaccine candidate elicited antibodies in most volunteers, it failed to prevent infection.
- New strides in protecting infants from HIV: Researchers continue quest to give pregnant women better options to prevent mother-to-child transmission
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);3
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- More than a decade after researchers first found that antiretroviral (ARV) drugs given to women during childbirth could greatly reduce the risk of HIV transmission to their infants, children are still acquiring HIV at an alarming rate. The most recent data from UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, estimated that 630,000 children worldwide were newly HIV-infected in 2003.
- Obituary: Maurice Hilleman: Scientist who developed a multitude of vaccines and saved countless lives
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);4
- Kristen Jill Kresge
- Maurice Hilleman was without doubt one of the towering figures of 20th Century science. Since his death on April 11, tributes have consistently cited him as the medical scientist responsible for saving the most human lives.
- An Interview with Frances Gotch: HIV/AIDS cohorts in Uganda
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);5
- Simon Noble
- Frances Gotch, D.Phil has been working with cohorts of people affected by HIV/AIDS in the UK and in Entebbe, Uganda for more than 10 years. She was instrumental in setting up the immunology laboratories at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe with funding from the Wellcome Trust, and in close collaboration with the MRC-funded Programme on AIDS in Uganda.
- Research at the extremes: Presentations at Keystone 2005 focused on both very early and prolonged infection to try to discern what an effective vaccine might need to do
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);6
- Philip Cohen, PhD
- This year's Keystone joint symposia on "HIV Vaccines: Current Challenges and Future Prospects" and "HIV Pathogenesis" were held in Banff amid the soaring Canadian Rockies. The seven-day symposia are perhaps the highlight of the HIV conference calendar, a forum for the world's top researchers to air new data and put forward new hypotheses, as well as get together to share ideas and spark collaborations.
- HIV in the aftermath: Breaking the HIV/AIDS and disaster connection
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);7
- Sheri Fink, MD, PhD
- In the province of Aceh, Indonesia, in the weeks following last December’s tsunami disaster, children began showing up at medical clinics hot with fever and covered with the characteristic red rash that spells measles. The cramped tent camps where the children had taken shelter were a catalyst for the spread of the disease, which takes an alarmingly deadly toll in displaced populations.
- Vaccine Briefs
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);8
- Kristen Jill Kresge and Roberto Fernandez-Larsson, Ph.D.
- The US government recently reversed its decision to force all international recipients of funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria to publicly condemn commercial sex work. Countries that receive money directly from the US government will still be required to comply with this restriction, which is part of the administration’s global AIDS initiative. But Randall Tobias, director of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), rejected extending the plan to the 128 countries that currently receive Global Fund grants.
- Research Briefs
- IAVI Report 2005 Apr/Jun 9(2);9
- Roberto Fernandez-Larsson, Ph.D.
- What will be most important in an effective AIDS vaccine—robust humoral or cellular immunity? The current consensus among HIV researchers is that most likely both will be required, at least for a vaccine that provides sterilizing immunity.
- Vol. 9 (1), Dec/Mar 2005
- An enterprising solution takes one step forward: Global plan for HIV vaccines welcomed with endorsements and questions
- IAVI Report 2004 Dec/2005 Mar 9(1);1
- Philip Cohen, PhD
- The grand idea of forging a global partnership to accelerate the development of an effective AIDS vaccine took a step closer to reality with the publication of a scientific strategic plan identifying scientific roadblocks currently impeding progress. The plan from the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise, described as “an alliance of independent entities,” calls for a near doubling of worldwide investment in vaccine research and the coordination of an unprecedented network of researchers and labs between which reagents, data and intellectual property will freely flow.
- Aches and pains: Learning lessons from the influenza vaccine shortage
- IAVI Report 2004 Dec/2005 Mar 9(1);2
- Sheri Fink, MD, PhD
- As the US supply of influenza vaccine see-sawed from shortage to surplus this past year and flu experts again confronted warning signs of the next flu pandemic, AIDS vaccine experts might have considered taking notes. Experts say these unfortunate episodes provide valuable case studies highlighting the precarious nature of vaccine manufacturing, the difficulty of forecasting demand for biological products, and the challenges of ensuring an adequate supply. Many of the lessons flu experts are learning and the solutions they are proposing could apply to HIV/AIDS should an efficacious vaccine be developed.
- Researchers take a measured response: Immunologists compare data and techniques at Measurement of Antigen-Specific Immune Responses conference
- IAVI Report 2004 Dec/2005 Mar 9(1);3
- Adrian McDermott, PhD, and Philip Cohen, PhD
- It makes good sense that a key component of the nascent Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise scientific strategic plan is to expand the standardization of immunoassays. Some of the most fruitful collaborations so far within vaccine trial sponsor organizations, as well as between them, have been built on the widespread adoption of a standardized assay to measure HIV specific cellular immune responses in vaccinees.
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©2005. AEGiS.