HIV/AIS vaccine: Gates' US$287 million for "open" research network; and Russia's own US$40 million centre

(8 August 06)

The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has committed US$287 million in grants to create a global HIV/AIDS vaccine research network, and Russia has announced plans for its own US$40 million regional research centre.

Gates’ money is to be divided among 16 research teams involving 19 countries. The countries named in the announcement are: Australia , Austria, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Zambia.

However from a Foundation backgrounder detailing the grants, it seems that the research funds will go first to investigators in the developed world, who will then form partnerships with researchers in the South when necessary – for example to work on HIV2 in Uganda.

In Russia, according to a report in RIA Novosti, relayed by the Kaiser Network, health officials representing the seven Russian research institutions working on a vaccine have requested US$40 for a regional centre. The statement was made by Gennady Onishchenko, Russia’s chief medical officer, according to the report. The region’s HIV/AIDS problem is urgent. In recent years western ex-Soviet countries and the Baltic States have recorded some of the fastest growing rates of HIV infection in the world, says UNDP. The epidemic has reached critical levels in Russia, Ukraine and Estonia, where infection rates have topped 1 percent of the adult population.

Gates’ 16 groups do not include Russia – but a vaccine if discovered should be of universal value, so quality, scale of work and collaboration matter most. Investigators in this network have committed themselves to share data openly and compare results, thus accelerating vaccine development.

The groups will be organized in eleven consortia focusing on vaccine discovery, creating and evaluating new vaccine candidates.

Linked to five central laboratories and data analysis facilities, five consortia will focus on designing new vaccine candidates capable of eliciting effective neutralizing antibodies against HIV, while six will focus on overcoming significant shortcomings with existing vaccine candidates.

The remaining five grants will establish the central facilities: in the US, three networks for measuring immune responses, and a data and statistical management centre based in the US; and in Germany, a research specimen repository.

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