Vaccines

GENEVA, 9 March 2011—The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) congratulates Seth Berkley on his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).

Dr Berkley is a prominent figure in the response to HIV. He has led the quest to find a safe, effective and affordable AIDS vaccine through his work with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) which he founded in 1996.

At GAVI, Dr Berkley will be leading efforts to protect children and improve people’s health by increasing access to immunisation for common but life-threatening diseases in developing countries.

“I want to personally thank Seth for his leadership in pushing the scientific agenda forward in the AIDS response. His innovative approach in the search for an AIDS vaccine has given hope to millions of people around the world,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “I look forward to working closely with him in his new role with GAVI.” 

Dr Berkley will continue as President and Chief Executive Officer with IAVI until he takes up his new position with GAVI in August.

Geneva, 29 January 2010—UNAIDS strongly applauds today’s announcement by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to invest USD 10 billion into research and development of vaccines over the next 10 years.

The announcement, made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, is a welcome step forward in commitment to vaccine research, however large gaps in funding for the research and development of vaccines still remain.

“The best hope for ending the AIDS epidemic lies in a developing a vaccine,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “A vaccine for HIV would save millions of lives and I call on both governments and the private sector to follow this example and scale-up their commitment to this important area of work in health and development.”

The long term response to the AIDS epidemic depends on progress in HIV prevention research and continued funding for scientific research and development. A vaccine for HIV still remains many years away and UNAIDS will continue to advocate to advance the research and development agenda at national, regional and global levels to bring the quest for a vaccine closer.

GENEVA, 6 August 2009 – UNAIDS welcomes the two separate price reduction agreements reached by the Clinton Foundation with pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Matrix to improve access to AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) medicines for people in need of second line treatment. These medicines are required when people living with HIV fail to respond to standard treatment regimens. At the end of 2008, an estimated 5% of the people on antiretroviral treatment required second line drugs. The need for these drugs is expected to rise in the coming years.

“The reduction of prices of second line antiretroviral drugs will saves lives,” said UNAIDS executive director Mr Michel Sidibé. “These agreements will help improve the sustainability of national treatment programmes over the long term”.

The agreement with Matrix to make available three second line drugs in a single package will also contribute to the ease of delivery and help increase treatment adherence.

Tuberculosis remains one of the leading causes of AIDS-related deaths. The agreement with Pfizer allows people to seek TB treatment without interrupting their second line treatment. “People living with HIV should not have to choose between TB and AIDS treatment,” said Mr Sidibé. “We have to stop people living with HIV from dying of TB”.

There are an estimated 33 million people living with HIV. About 4 million people are currently on antiretroviral treatment. UNAIDS along with its Cosponsors WHO and UNICEF are supporting countries reach their universal access targets for treatment.

New report finds first decline in HIV vaccine R&D investment in a decade

A new report on investment in HIV prevention research in 2008 finds that HIV vaccine reearch funding levels decreased for the first time since investment trends have been tracked. This may have been influenced by shifts in scientific priorities, the declining economy and competing priorities in the larger global health agenda. Despite this decrease, the overall trend since 2000 has been of increasing investment for experimental biomedical prevention strategies.

The report, Adapting to Realities: Trends in HIV Prevention Research Funding 2000 to 2008, was released at the 5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town South Africa by the HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Resource Tracking Working Group.

The report identified investments of almost $1.2 billion in HIV prevention research in 2008, of which $868 million supported vaccine research and development (R&D), and $244 million supported microbicide R&D, while other HIV prevention R&D received much lower levels of funding. AIDS vaccine research declined for the first time since 2000, falling by ten percent from 2007 levels. At the same time, funding for both microbicides and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) increased by eight and 13 percent, respectively.

Funding for HIV prevention research remains a relatively small percentage of the overall response to HIV/AIDS. A recent report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS documented commitments from the developed world for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs in developing countries of $8.7 billion in 2008, up from $6.6 billion the previous year.

“Research to develop new HIV prevention tools and strategies is essential to prevent new infections, and an HIV vaccine still holds the greatest hope to ending the epidemic,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS “It is vitally important that investments into research for HIV prevention be sustained and increased for as long as it takes to reach those goals.”

The Resource Tracking Working Group identified a critical need in this time of shifting budget priorities and economic uncertainty for the HIV prevention research field to identify funding needs and put in place scientific plans to help guide research decisions. These steps will ensure that there is no duplication of efforts and that funding can be linked efficiently to scientific priorities.

“Support and interest in HIV prevention research from public, private and philanthropic funders over the last decade has supported key R&D priorities, moved the field forward and brought us closer to new HIV prevention options,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC. “We face tremendous challenges – both scientific and economic – over the coming years, but we must not lose the momentum we have gained. The field needs sustained support from a range of funders. The AIDS epidemic shows no signs of slowing, and the desperate need for new HIV prevention options will not change.”

Levels of funding in 2008 reflected key shifts in the HIV prevention research field. The halting in late 2007 of the Step and Phambili vaccine trials, which were testing a candidate vaccine developed by Merck, ended one of the only pharmaceutical company partnerships for HIV vaccine R&D. This slowing in industry involvement is reflected by a decline in industry funding levels in 2008. Pharmaceuticals and biotech companies in 2008 accounted for only four percent of HIV vaccine research funding. Levels were even lower across other HIV prevention research priorities. Nevertheless, the commercial sector contributes to the development of HIV prevention research in a number of ways through pharmaceutical company support. A number of companies have provided ARV compounds for development as potential microbicides, and as oral PrEP, along with technical support to microbicide product developers.

“The worldwide economic crisis has fueled debate about the best way to invest in global health, with some arguing that AIDS takes up resources at the expense of efforts to deal with other diseases and to improve health systems in the developing world. But given that AIDS is the number one killer in sub-Saharan Africa, and number four in the world, it is imperative that we reverse this pandemic, and that can only be done through improved methods of prevention, including a vaccine. If we can conquer AIDS, we will be able to invest resources in other pressing priorities,” said Seth Berkley, President and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

It is important to note that HIV vaccine research and development is continuing to move forward. Just today, the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative announced the start of a trial to study a vaccine candidate developed by local South African scientists. Results are also expected later this year from the largest vaccine trial ever, which successfully enrolled more than 16,000 participants. In addition, researchers around the world are developing new vaccine approaches and conducting basic research to inform vaccine development.

The report notes that increased investment in microbicide R&D may reflect increased interest in research on antiretroviral (ARV)-based candidates. Investment increased in microbicides overall at the same time that the field intensified its focus on ARV-based approaches to microbicide development.

“Increased funding for microbicide R&D over the past decade has fostered a major expansion for the field; clinical trials of microbicide candidates have been conducted in 27 countries around the world; and pre-clinical research has yielded important scientific information. Support from public, private and philanthropic funders is essential to increase R&D for new microbicide candidates,” said Polly Harrison, Director of the Alliance for Microbicide Development.

The U.S. government was once again the primary funder for HIV prevention research, supporting 71 percent of HIV vaccine R&D, 63 percent of microbicide R&D, and providing 46 percent of funding for PrEP prevention research in 2008.

A decrease in investment from the U.S. National Institutes of Health contributed to the overall decline of funding for HIV vaccine R&D. The U.S. government investment fell by $39 million, a six percent decrease. Other governments also decreased funding for HIV vaccine research in 2008: European government funding fell by 13 percent and total funding from other countries (including Brazil, Canada, India, South Africa, and Thailand) fell by 16 percent.

The report authors caution that while it is too early to attribute all of the funding decreases to the financial crisis, there is concern that a prolonged global recession could have a major impact on public investment in all HIV/AIDS programs. A recent report from UNAIDS and the World Bank found that the economic crisis has already affected levels of funding for treatment and prevention programs in some developing countries.

The Working Group also reported on investment in operational research related to proven biomedical HIV prevention research interventions – medical male circumcision and ARVs for prevention of vertical transmission of HIV from mother to child. These efforts are being funded at much lower levels that other HIV prevention research, with $11 million supporting research related to rollout of male circumcision and $21 million supporting operations research for prevention of vertical transmission.

HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group

The HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group was established in 2004 to generate and disseminate high-quality, detailed and comparable data on annual investments in preventive HIV vaccine and microbicide research and development (R&D), and policy and advocacy activities. These data can be used to monitor current levels of effort; identify trends in investment, spending, and research focus; identify areas needing more resources and effort; assess the impact of public policies aimed at increasing investment in new prevention technologies (NPTs); and provide a fact base for policy advocacy on R&D investments and allocations.

The Working Group is comprised of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), the Alliance for Microbicide Development (AMD), the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).