NIH Holds Summit on HIV Vaccine Research and Development

On Tuesday, March 25^th, The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) convened an HIV Vaccine Summit. The event was titled, “AIDS Vaccine Research: A re-evaluation.” The meeting was called after clinical trials testing a Merck HIV vaccine candidate were halted in September due to safety concerns. The summit brought together leaders and key staff of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and over 300 experts in the scientific community to examine the current direction of HIV vaccine research. The discussed the optimal balance between basic vaccine-related research and development efforts designed to advance promising vaccine candidates into clinical trials as well as how to optimally use animal model research to support vaccine research.

The complete summit was webcast and can be viewed at: http://www.macrovolt.com/live/dgi_032508/.

The recommendations and outcomes of the summit meeting point towards a major shift in strategy. After the summit, it became clear that a greater emphasis and investment must go towards basic laboratory research, while continuing to build on scientific discoveries to date including human clinical trials. Currently 47% of NIH’s vaccine research budget goes to basic laboratory research and 38% goes towards clinical trials of vaccine candidates in humans. The summit also focused on the overall need for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health and HIV/AIDS research.

During the summit Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID said, “We need to turn the knob toward basic scientific discovery, nobody should be unclear about that,” and Carl W. Dieffenbach, head of NIAID’s Division of AIDS, acknowledged that the summit marks a change in approach.

While the summit indicates a “mid-course” evaluation and change in direction, it is important to note that the focus of the meeting was strategizing on how to move forward in the most successful and promising way towards finding an HIV vaccine. Significant progress has been made in the extremely challenging field of HIV vaccine research. While the Merck results were disappointing to all in the field, the trial is not considered to be a failure and will undoubtedly provide valuable information as the results are fully analyzed. This is a critical moment for scientists, advocates, and members of the community to come together and remember that HIV vaccine research is essential in the fight against AIDS along with prevention, treatment, and care. 

Please read the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition’s (AVAC) response to the summit at: http://avac.org/pdf/summit_commentary_mar2008.pdf.