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AIDS Vaccine Still Possible, Say Researchers
August 7, 2008
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 7 (OneWorld) - It will be a difficult -- but not impossible -- task to develop an AIDS vaccine, say independent medical researchers at a major international conference on HIV/AIDS taking place in Mexico this week.
"[It] may take more time and innovation than we might have once imagined," said Seth Berkley, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a U.S.-based non-profit research organization that has been trying to develop an AIDS vaccine for more than a decade.
Last year Berkley's group thought researchers might have been close to producing a vaccine that would have been a solid defense line against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That effort ultimately failed, but the group remains strongly optimistic about the ongoing medical research on AIDS prevention.
"The scientific evidence in both humans and animal models suggests that developing an AIDS vaccine is possible," said Wayne Koff, a senior scientist associated with IAVI. But that possibility, according to Koff, requires a greater degree of patience with the ongoing research.
"The challenge we face now is how to translate advances made in our understanding of the virus and the human immune responses to it into promising vaccine candidates as quickly and safely as possible," Koff added in a statement released at the Mexico City conference.
UN experts say, currently, on average, more than 7,000 people are being infected with HIV every day. Although there has been a decrease in the number of infections worldwide, recent studies suggest that people in certain countries remain especially vulnerable.
According to the UN secretary-general's report submitted to the General Assembly last year, the numbers of infections are growing in countries like China, Indonesia, Russia, Ukraine, some European Union countries, and North America.
In the wake of last year's scientific disappointment, some analysts have speculated that perhaps the scientific community will never be able to develop a vaccine against HIV, and money directed to vaccine research should be shifted to efforts to prevent transmission of the virus and treat those who have contracted it.
But IAVI's researchers remain "confident that science will prevail." At the international meeting in Mexico City, the group released its annual report titled, "AIDS Vaccine Blueprint 2008," which lays out a series of priorities for researchers and suggests a number of short-term milestones that could begin to clear the path to an effective vaccine.
The report's authors emphasize that research completed to date has made "considerable advances" and that they are convinced there are "exciting prospects ahead."
IAVI researchers say most vaccines work by neutralizing a virus with antibodies before a person can become infected. An AIDS vaccine, they say, would likely work the same way.
Although scientists have identified some "neutralizing antibodies" that fight HIV, they have not discovered how to re-create such an "immunogen" that would neutralize a significant number of strains of HIV.
The IAVI Blueprint recommends scaling up efforts to solve that part of the problem.
It also recommends focusing more resources on studying those rare humans and primates that are able to fight off HIV without medicine. The report's authors argue as well that vaccine candidates that cannot demonstrate a likelihood for success should be dropped, in order to free up more funding to solve the key scientific problems impeding other vaccines that are closer to showing success.
Omu Anzala, who teaches medical science at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, a country that has one the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, not only shares the conclusions drawn by the report's authors, but also shares their thoughts on the importance of continuing vaccine research efforts.
"Developing a preventive HIV/AIDS vaccine is going to be much tougher than we originally thought," said Anzala in a statement urging international policy makers and donors to invest more in the ongoing research on the development of an AIDS vaccine.
"The world is now relying on the talents, resources, and energy of researchers, doctors, policy makers, activists, and other stakeholders from both the developed and the developing world," he added. "We need as many people as possible committed to helping us reach this goal."
Meanwhile, IAVI hopes that its Blueprint will help generate consensus on the need for more -- and more efficient -- efforts to develop an AIDS vaccine.
"We will keep using speed, flexibility, and focus to drive forward AIDS vaccine science and testing," said Berkley. "[We will] keep an AIDS vaccine on center stage as a long-term solution to this devastating public-health problem."
OneWorld TV: Teaching Nigerian Children About AIDS and Sexuality
"[It] may take more time and innovation than we might have once imagined," said Seth Berkley, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a U.S.-based non-profit research organization that has been trying to develop an AIDS vaccine for more than a decade.
Last year Berkley's group thought researchers might have been close to producing a vaccine that would have been a solid defense line against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That effort ultimately failed, but the group remains strongly optimistic about the ongoing medical research on AIDS prevention.
"The scientific evidence in both humans and animal models suggests that developing an AIDS vaccine is possible," said Wayne Koff, a senior scientist associated with IAVI. But that possibility, according to Koff, requires a greater degree of patience with the ongoing research.
"The challenge we face now is how to translate advances made in our understanding of the virus and the human immune responses to it into promising vaccine candidates as quickly and safely as possible," Koff added in a statement released at the Mexico City conference.
UN experts say, currently, on average, more than 7,000 people are being infected with HIV every day. Although there has been a decrease in the number of infections worldwide, recent studies suggest that people in certain countries remain especially vulnerable.
According to the UN secretary-general's report submitted to the General Assembly last year, the numbers of infections are growing in countries like China, Indonesia, Russia, Ukraine, some European Union countries, and North America.
In the wake of last year's scientific disappointment, some analysts have speculated that perhaps the scientific community will never be able to develop a vaccine against HIV, and money directed to vaccine research should be shifted to efforts to prevent transmission of the virus and treat those who have contracted it.
But IAVI's researchers remain "confident that science will prevail." At the international meeting in Mexico City, the group released its annual report titled, "AIDS Vaccine Blueprint 2008," which lays out a series of priorities for researchers and suggests a number of short-term milestones that could begin to clear the path to an effective vaccine.
The report's authors emphasize that research completed to date has made "considerable advances" and that they are convinced there are "exciting prospects ahead."
IAVI researchers say most vaccines work by neutralizing a virus with antibodies before a person can become infected. An AIDS vaccine, they say, would likely work the same way.
Although scientists have identified some "neutralizing antibodies" that fight HIV, they have not discovered how to re-create such an "immunogen" that would neutralize a significant number of strains of HIV.
The IAVI Blueprint recommends scaling up efforts to solve that part of the problem.
It also recommends focusing more resources on studying those rare humans and primates that are able to fight off HIV without medicine. The report's authors argue as well that vaccine candidates that cannot demonstrate a likelihood for success should be dropped, in order to free up more funding to solve the key scientific problems impeding other vaccines that are closer to showing success.
Omu Anzala, who teaches medical science at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, a country that has one the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, not only shares the conclusions drawn by the report's authors, but also shares their thoughts on the importance of continuing vaccine research efforts.
"Developing a preventive HIV/AIDS vaccine is going to be much tougher than we originally thought," said Anzala in a statement urging international policy makers and donors to invest more in the ongoing research on the development of an AIDS vaccine.
"The world is now relying on the talents, resources, and energy of researchers, doctors, policy makers, activists, and other stakeholders from both the developed and the developing world," he added. "We need as many people as possible committed to helping us reach this goal."
Meanwhile, IAVI hopes that its Blueprint will help generate consensus on the need for more -- and more efficient -- efforts to develop an AIDS vaccine.
"We will keep using speed, flexibility, and focus to drive forward AIDS vaccine science and testing," said Berkley. "[We will] keep an AIDS vaccine on center stage as a long-term solution to this devastating public-health problem."
OneWorld TV: Teaching Nigerian Children About AIDS and Sexuality
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