NIAID Establishes Consortium To Research, Develop HIV Vaccines

The NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on Thursday announced funding to establish the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology, a consortium of universities and medical centers that will work together to develop an HIV vaccine, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. Barton Haynes, a researcher at Duke University Medical Center, will lead the consortium, which will receive $15 million in its first year and might receive a total of more than $300 million over seven years (Avery, Raleigh News & Observer, 7/15). The consortium will focus on understanding the early stages of HIV infection and how human and monkey immune systems respond to the virus, developing and testing HIV vaccines that can stimulate lasting immune response, and evaluating potential HIV vaccine candidates in small clinical trials. The consortium will be a "key component" of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, a virtual consortium of independent organizations dedicated to speeding research on HIV/AIDS vaccines, according to NIAID Director Anthony Fauci (NIAID release, 7/14).