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HIV vaccine conference opens in most promising research atmosphere for years
Gus Cairns, 2013-10-07 17:30:00
The 13th – and last – AIDS Vaccine 2013 Conference opened today in Barcelona in an atmosphere of low-key excitement, with recent research findings to be presented at the conference, signposting new pathways towards the ultimate goal of a preventive vaccine for HIV.
A vaccine won’t happen tomorrow. One renowned researcher, Crucell’s Jerald Sadoff, who has been involved in the development of vaccines to diseases ranging from flu to hepatitis A, told a pre-conference workshop that he still did not expect a licensed HIV vaccine for ten years, and IAVI’s best guess is twelve years. But recent studies have elucidated the complexities of the body’s response to HIV and the way vaccines can change it with much more clarity than before.
Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the US National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (phoning in to the opening press conference due to the US federal shutdown) asked the question: with HIV infections falling by 30% in the last eight years and the expanding availability of antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis, why did we need a vaccine? The answer, he said, was because of the difficulty of people’s adherence and their retention in care.
“Ending the epidemic in the absence of a vaccine is a daunting challenge because it’s so difficult to maintain the continuum of care,” he said.
Treatment as prevention also involved getting people to test, he added, and putting and maintaining people on therapy was challenged by social and cultural factors, such as homosexuality being illegal in 76 countries.
Fauci outlined three main research pathways that the last few years’ research had opened.
Source:1
