HIV vaccine attempts gain pace

Vaccine researchers from around the world are joining forces to accelerate progress towards an effective and safe HIV vaccine.

In early February 50 experts from developing and industrialised countries presented and discussed their HIV vaccine research and development efforts at the first WHO-UNAIDS meeting of global partners promoting HIV vaccine research and development, an event which is now expected to take place on a 'regular basis'. The participating vaccine experts are from governments, academia, industry, public-private partnerships and non-governmental organisations throughout the world.

Recent progress in the HIV vaccine area includes the completion of several phase I and II trials of candi-date vaccines, while the publication last month of the 'Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise Scientific Strategic Plan' has also set a number of important milestones to be reached by all global partners.

Primary challenges today include: the need to increase clinical trial capacity worldwide and conduct trials at multiple sites against different globally prevalent HIV strains in populations with different transmission patterns; the appropriate use of trial sites for other HIV preventive research; the interface between HIV vaccine trials; increased access to anti-retroviral treatment, and the need to ensure that the most appropriate candidate vaccines are tested at the most appropriate sites regardless of who developed the product or strengthened the site.

Some 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are currently living with HIV, accounting for over 65% of all infections worldwide. An increasing number of trials are planned in African countries, where by 2003 only four phase I/II trials had been conducted. This is an important development as the licensing of a successful vaccine by regulatory bodies may require prior trials in countries with similar epidemiological settings.