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May 30, 2008
Vol. VII, Number 19
This
Week in
1. Congressional Briefing: New Options for HIV Prevention
Announcements
1. USCA Scholarship
This Week in
1. Congressional
Briefing: New Options for HIV Prevention
On Thursday, May 22nd the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) and the Caucus for Evidence-Based Prevention sponsored a Congressional briefing entitled, “New Options for HIV Prevention: The Continuing Need for Research Investment.” The briefing featured several speakers to discuss the current HIV prevention research field followed by a panel of discussants. The speakers included Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) and Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, Director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Panel discussants included Paula Frew; Director of Health Communications and Applied Community Research at the Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Research Center; Glenda Gray, Co-Director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit of South Africa; Polly Harrison; Executive Director of the Alliance for Microbicide Development; and Peter Kilmarx, Chief of the Epidemiology Branch at the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Mitchell Warren first discussed HIV vaccine research and why it is so important for the search for a vaccine to continue, despite the recent setback of the halted STEP clinical trial in September of 2007. He announced the release of AVAC’s 2008 Annual Report: The Search Must Continue, which can be read by clicking here. This year’s report found there are fewer candidates in the vaccine research pipeline than ever before and therefore advocacy efforts around the need for new scientific concepts and discovery must increase. He referenced the discontinuation of the STEP study as a changing point in the field, not a failure. He took the time to define what success and failure are in clinical research trials to rectify the misleading messages surrounding STEP. He said that a successful clinical trial is one that gives a scientifically accurate result. In a clinical trial a product can fail, a concept can fail, and communication can fail. In the case of STEP, the vaccine product failed to produce the desired effect. But, the trial itself was a success because it brought forth a clear result, although it was not the result we had been hoping for.
Next, Dr. Dieffenbach shared scientific perspectives on HIV prevention and vaccine research. He first explained the immense biological challenge with discovering an HIV vaccine; for the first time in history scientists are attempting to develop a vaccine for which no one has ever been cured and no natural immune response has been adequate. While it is an extreme challenge, he feels it can and must be done. He told the audience that HIV prevention research is NIH’s Division of AIDS’s top research priority. Developing a vaccine is their number one HIV prevention priority. Dr. Deiffenbach said that a safe and effective vaccine is critical to effective control of the epidemic, but he also touched on other prevention science research such as male circumcision, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and microbicides. He said that bio-medical research for all of these prevention interventions must be integrated with behavioral research for several reasons. After male circumcision there is a time when the male may be at increased risk for HIV and therefore behavioral counseling is important. Behavioral aspects such as adherence are critical to the research and future success of pre-exposure prophylaxis. Non adherence is also a key issue that must be examined with microbicide research. In closing he emphasized the importance of community education and engagement in HIV prevention research and thanked the numerous volunteers in HIV prevention research studies.
During the panel discussion, Dr. Paula Frew stressed that there is not enough funding in research budgets for community education and involvement, which is key. She feels that the need for community engagement and the cost associated with it is another reason why NIH’s research budget must be increased.
Dr. Glenda Gray, a pediatrician and researcher in
Next, Polly Harrison gave an update on the microbicide development pipeline. There are currently 55 microbicide candidates in pre-clinical trials and 11 in human clinical trials in 13 countries throughout the world. She reiterated Dr. Dieffenbach’s point that behavioral research to assess adherence and acceptance is critical to microbicide development.
Lastly, Dr. Peter Kilmarx, Chief of the Epidemiology Branch, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at CDC, explained that CDC is studying the implementation and behavioral aspects of several clinical trials for HIV prevention technologies. He spoke about the coordination improvements between CDC and NIH and the need for that coordination to continue during this dynamic time in HIV prevention research.
Announcements
1. USCA Scholarship
As Program Partners of the United States Conference on AIDS
(USCA), AIDS Action is afforded several scholarships for use by our members.
The 2008 USCA will be held from September 18-21 in
To learn more about registration for USCA, please visit: http://www.nmac.org/index/2008-usca.
If you have any questions regarding USCA, please contact
Donna Crews, AIDS Action’s Government Affairs Director, at dcrews@aidsaction.org or
The
AIDS Action Weekly Update
The Weekly Update is written with the
interests of our members in mind. If you are interested in membership with AIDS
Action, we invite you to contact aford@aidsaction.org.
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AIDS Action works to end the HIV epidemic by advancing public policies that prevent new infections, provide care for people living with HIV, and support the search for a cure. AIDS Action serves as the national voice for AIDS service organizations, health departments, and a diverse network of community-based organizations across the country, working with and for people living with and affected by HIV. |
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