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HEALTH: New Vaccine for AIDS Raises Conditional Hope
By Alecia D. McKenzie
PARIS, Oct 20 (IPS) - The possibility that a vaccine could soon be developed to fight the deadly HIV
virus has the scientific community brimming with hope and excitement, but
there is also disagreement about how effective it could be in the global war
against AIDS.
Michel Sidibé, executive director of the United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS),
says the surprise announcement in Thailand last month of the first successful
experimental test of an AIDS vaccine was a significant milestone despite
"some noise about how to interpret the data."
Speaking at the annual AIDS vaccine conference here Monday, Sidibé told
more than a thousand scientists who had gathered from around the world
that they should not lose sight of the big picture.
"The efficacy results of the Thai trials, whether this or that percentage,
whether just inside or just outside statistical significance, most of all provide
the field of AIDS vaccine research a lead to follow," Sidibé said.
Results of the Thai trials, which are being reviewed at the conference,
suggest that a two-vaccine combination may reduce the risk of HIV infection
by about 31 percent.
The two vaccines involved are ALVAC, made by the French company Sanofi
Pasteur, and the previously failed AIDSVAX, initially developed by U.S.-based
VaxGen Inc. and now held by Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases, a non-
profit health organisation.
The data is still being analysed, and some scientists believe that the low rate
of infection among the 16,400 volunteers in Thailand is not conclusive
evidence that the vaccine would be effective in groups that are most at risk
of HIV.
But the development is a lead that scientists have never had before, said Col.
Nelson Michael of the U.S. Army at a press conference Tuesday. He said the
results of the trial, which was sponsored by the U.S. government and the Thai
Ministry of Public Health, was a 'yes we can' moment.
"The door has been cracked open and we're all collectively going to crash
through it," Michael said.
While a vaccine to prevent HIV infection could stem the tide of the 7,400
cases of new infections that occur daily, it would do little to help the 33
million people around the world living with AIDS, some analysts say.
They've called for more focus on "therapeutic vaccines" as only about 45
percent of people with AIDS in low and middle-income countries have access
to treatment that includes life-saving anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
"A vaccine is not the only answer, it should be a supplement to the other
forms of prevention," said Dr. Supachai Rerks-Ngarm from the Department of
Disease Control in the Thai Ministry of Public Health.
"We still have a long way to go," said Dr. Alan Bernstein, executive director of
the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, an alliance of researchers, governments,
advocates and sponsors such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and
which organises the annual conference. "What is important is that we get a
vaccine and get it as soon as possible."
Bernstein said research was moving faster than at any time in the past 20
years, and that he was confident a vaccine against HIV/AIDS will be
developed within the next five years.
Such a development would particularly help sub-Saharan Africa, which
accounts for 67 percent of all people living with HIV, and where 72 percent of
the two million AIDS deaths in 2007 were reported, according to UNAIDS.
"We very much need a vaccine in Africa," said Pontiano Kaleebu, chairman of
the
African AIDS Vaccine Programme. "We need to prevent infections."
Kaleebu told IPS that African governments need to increase the allocation for
health to 15 percent of their budget as the United Nations has urged them to
do. So far only Botswana has agreed to do this, he said.
"This is Africa's problem, and we need to sort it out," Kaleebu said.
The AIDS Vaccine Conference, first held in Paris in 2000, has become an
important meeting for the exchange of scientific information on developing a
vaccine against HIV. This year it drew unprecedented attention because of the
Thai trials and the controversy around them.
"I don't see the debate as an 'either this or that' argument," Dr Catherine
Hankins, chief scientific adviser at UNAIDS told IPS. "Our aim is universal
access for treatment, prevention, care and support, so we need to move
ahead on all kinds of fronts."
Such fronts include promoting male circumcision, which has been shown to
reduce HIV infection by 50 to 60 percent; developing microbicides, including
a gel that women could use before sexual intercourse; and educating
populations at risk.
A vaccine would be particularly useful for people who cannot take preventive
measures for various reasons, Hankins said, such as women unaware that
their partners have the HIV virus.
"Scientists can be pleased that they're opening up doors," said Hankins.
"We're going to learn something about what is possible, and that's what's
exciting about the vaccine trials." (ENDIPS/EU/WD/HE/SD/AM/SS/09) (END/2009)
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