PartnersGF - 2004-07-17
IAC 2004: Wanted: more money for vaccine research
The mystery of the ever-shifting timelines of vaccine research
HDN Key Correspondents Team
****************************
We need to demystify vaccines. People need to understand that it might take time and they need to participate in trials.
Somebody has to put an end to the rhetorical froth in the G8 and translate statements to more funding for vaccine research. These were the words of Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-Generals special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa.
At a forum examining the global success and challenges of HIV vaccine research, Mr Lewis said there was lack of political commitment in G8 meetings, because leaders just make statements and they are not committed to them.
In this respect, Mr Lewis said if an HIV vaccine is to be a reality, civil society organisations and other international organisations need to make vaccine research a central issue during meetings of the eight most industrialised nations (G8). They also need to press for firm commitment within those governments to ensure success.
Seth Berkley, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), said that researchers had made considerable progress because the first-ever large-scale AIDS vaccine trials were completed last year and two more are expected to roll out this year.
The number of AIDS vaccine candidates in small-scale human trials has doubled to 30 since 2000, spanning 19 countries in six continents. Four pharmaceutical companies are engaged in vaccine trials, up from two in 2000. But surrounding vaccine research is the mystery of its ever-shifting timelines, and the urgent need to educate people without raising their hopes.
Zackie Achmat, from the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa, explained how massive activism had been directed to treatment and little has been done to explain much about vaccines in Africa. Furthermore, hopes have been dashed by failed candidates like Vaxgen. We need to demystify vaccines, he said. People need to understand that it might take time and they need to participate in trials.
But Mr Berkley emphasised that the most important thing is to have a vaccine that can be accessed. He drew the analogy of other vaccines such as those for whooping cough or polio: people do not know how they work or how they were developed, but they can access them.
Laetitia Van Den Assum, HIV/AIDS ambassador from Holland, said more political commitment and incentives to attract big pharmaceutical companies to invest in vaccine research is important.
Apart from the known advantages that vaccines would protect men and women from infection and offer hope to a world that seems to be succumbing to AIDS, political issues were also discussed at length.
Lewis drew an example of the US$200 billion required to reconstruct Afghanistan and Iraq in coming years. He wondered why such money was not committed to a cause like vaccine research. He argued that there is dire need for more resources into the field.
Chrispus Kiyonga, former chair of the Global Fund against HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, told the conference that African leaders needed to offer an environment that enabled local researchers to advance their work. This, he said, would allow parallel research, which is important given the different subtypes of HIV that affect different regions of the world. It would also ensure more collaboration between local and international scientists working in the field.
Another issue raised was the state of health facilities in developing countries. It was argued that systems need to be developed to ensure that trials can take place in African countries. But Mr Lewis insisted that there was no need to press for new hospitals but rather improve the facilities as you go along.
HDN Key Correspondents Team
Email: correspondents@hdnet.org
***
Today's Quote
"If we demanded from our leadership what we want, these huge problems could all be over in five years. We are letting our elected leaders get away with this."
Mary Robinson