2009
AVAC Report: Piecing Together the
HIV Prevention Puzzle
When
conceptualizing this year's Report, we took
inspiration from a
quotation in the 2006-2008 review of the Bill
& Melinda Gates
Foundation - funded Collaboration for AIDS
Vaccine Discovery
(www.cavd.org), which states that the ultimate
goal "is to develop a
vaccine that prevents HIV infection or disease,
anything less than that
can be characterized as progress, but not
success."
In the
first
section of the Report, "Puzzling Out Progress,"
we report on the AIDS
vaccine field, where there's an energized focus
on discovery,
innovation, and basic science. In the second
section, "Puzzling Out
Success," we turn to the implications of PrEP
and other strategies in
efficacy trials today. Throughout, we argue
that success will depend on
combination approaches: on research plus
implementation; on vaccines
plus PrEP, should either show benefit; and on
communities plus
researchers working towards common
goals.
AVAC
Report 2008: The Search Must
Continue
The 2008 AVAC Report, The Search
Must Continue, provides a comprehensive review
of recent developments in AIDS vaccine
research. It explores the issues that have been
raised in the wake of the failure of Merck's
vaccine candidate and provides context for the
events and major changes of the last year in
HIV prevention research.
AVAC
Report 2007:
Resetting the
Clock
The three sections of this report
outline some specific deadlines and challenges
in AIDS vaccine scientific strategy, clinical
trials, and the broader realm of HIV
prevention. These arenas mesh like watch gears,
and must function just as smoothly if the field
is to proceed.
AVAC
Report 2006:
AIDS Vaccines: The
Next Frontiers
In this report, AVAC offers its
first contribution to the scenario planning
that we think is critical to the success of the
field. The next several years bring a variety
of scenarios which we cannot encounter
unprepared. Instead, the AIDS vaccine field,
and the field of prevention research in
general, must engage in rigorous debate,
dialogue and scenario planning which
anticipates the issues that the next few years
will bring, and ensures that the wide range of
stakeholders are informed and empowered to make
decisions to compete against the virus. In this
report, we present four thought-provoking
chapters, each of which begins with a future
scenario that considers how the world might
look in five or six or ten years'
time.
AVAC
Report 2005: AIDS Vaccines at the
Crossroads
In this report, we offer
recommendations for the field in general, the
Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, policy makers,
researchers and communities. Some of these
recommendations will be familiar because we've
made them before, and we reiterate them because
we believe they are still needed. (See our
timeline of 10 years of AVAC recommendations
for a perspective on progress over the past
decade.) We also provide an update on tenofovir
pre-exposure prophylaxis research.
AVAC
Report 2004:
AIDS Vaccine Trials:
Getting the Global House in
Order
The report focuses on how the
field is readying itself for the road ahead.
Several chapters address different aspects of
"readiness" - a term that means different
things to different people, but that is at the
heart of the AIDS vaccine advocacy agenda
today.
AVAC
Report 2003: 4 Years and Counting:
How do you Fight a Disease of Mass
Destruction?
When America became frightened by
the bio-terror threat, Congress and the
Administration moved swiftly to put funding and
incentives in place. That same kind of decisive
action is needed to accelerate research and
ensure an AIDS vaccine is available to all who
need it. This report looks at the bioterror
model, and provides the results of our new
industry survey.
AVAC
Report 2002:
5 Years and Counting:
Science, Urgency and
Courage
Five years away from the date
former President Bill Clinton set as a goal for
finding an AIDS vaccine, there are more
candidate vaccine products in development than
ever before. No one knows if any of the current
experimental vaccines will work. No one even
knows what immune response a vaccine needs to
elicit to prevent HIV disease. The only way to
obtain answers is to ask tens of thousands of
altruistic and courageous participants to
participate in dozens of trials. The only way
to obtain answers is to invest hundreds of
millions of dollars to fund these
trials.
AVAC
Report 2001: 6 Years and Counting:
Can a Shifting Landscape Accelerate an AIDS
Vaccine?
In 1996, AVAC was the first
organization to demand that development of an
AIDS vaccine become a national goal. President
Clinton set that goal in May 1997, calling for
a successful vaccine by 2007. We are now six
years away from the goal and counting.
None of the challenges are insurmountable. The
optimism that characterizes HIV vaccine
research today should drive policy makers and
researchers to grapple effectively with the
issues that remain. An HIV vaccine is possible.
The question is how soon we find it, and who
gets it when we do.
AVAC
Report 2000: 7 Years and Counting:
How Can We Overcome Obstacles to an AIDS
Vaccine?
The last year was one of great
activity across US agencies and throughout the
world. This report documents the steadily
increasing activity in the quest for a vaccine
against HIV. We have also identified several
actions necessary to accelerate development of
HIV vaccines, and we outline all of this in the
AVAC report for 2000.
AVAC
Report 1999: 8 Years and Counting:
What Will Speed the Development of an AIDS
Vaccine?
We urge government, industry, and
community to dedicate themselves to the
development of a safe and effective HIV
vaccine. If the goal for 2007 cannot be
achieved, then we need to know what will be
accomplished over the next eight years toward a
vaccine that could bring the HIV pandemic under
control. With 16,000 new HIV infections each
day, the world can afford no delay. This report
describes what each of these sectors has
accomplished during the past year and outlines
what each can do to speed the search for a
preventive vaccine.
AVAC
Report 1998: 9 Years and Counting:
Will We Have an HIV Vaccine by
2007?
This report surveys the public-
and private-sector efforts on HIV vaccine
research and development in the past year, with
a focus on the US government agencies and
pharmaceutical companies that are most likely
to make a difference. It finds that, despite an
impressive array of dedicated researchers and
increasing funding for HIV vaccines, the world
will fall short of President Clinton's
deadline. US government research efforts are
not focused on results, leaders err on the side
of caution rather than on moving forward,
responsibility is diffuse, and the nation has
stood silent as pharmaceutical companies,
including the world's largest vaccine producer,
make little or no investment in one of the
greatest public health challenges of our
century. AVAC addresses these obstacles and
recommends an agenda for action in this
report.
