Search for HIV Vaccine Needs Overhaul

[Guest guest]

Search for HIV Vaccine Needs Overhaul "

Associated Press (07.24.08):: Freking

Development of an effective vaccine against HIV/AIDS will require a

paradigm shift in researchers' approaches, a broad team of scientists

wrote in Friday's edition of the journal Science. " Design of a

vaccine that blocks HIV infection will require enormous intellectual

leaps beyond present day knowledge, " they concluded.

A recent high-profile trial of a candidate vaccine not only failed to

prevent infection, but those who were inoculated also appeared to be

at higher risk of infection compared to those given a placebo.

Following these disappointing results, the National Institute of

Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) held a March summit on how to

reinvigorate vaccine research.

The failed study showed " we were maybe on the wrong track a bit, "

said NIAID Director Dr. Fauci. " We will be turning the knob,

as I like to say, more preferentially toward answering some of the

fundamental questions that have gone unanswered. "

NIAID will still support human trials, but it is raising the bar that

candidate vaccines need to pass to get federal funding. If milestones

are not met, or if initiatives fail to attract the highest quality of

applications, money will be redirected to more promising research

activities, said Fauci.

The scientists noted that the need for more HIV vaccine resources

comes at a time when the budget for the National Institutes for

Health remains flat. " Should growth in the NIH budget be reinstated

in future years, one of the highest priorities will be to target

those additional resources to HIV vaccine programs, particularly

vaccine discovery research, " the officials wrote.

The article, " HIV Vaccine Research: The Way Forward, " was published

in Science (2008;321(5888):530-532).

http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/listserv/prevention_news.asp.