New Report Finds Investment in AIDS Vaccine and Microbicide R&D Continues to Increase Incrementally in 2007: Calls for Sustained Funding to Maintain HIV Prevention Research Efforts
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Mexico City, August 5, 2008 -- A new report
released today shows that funding for
biomedical HIV prevention research and
development (R&D), including AIDS vaccines
and microbicides, increased dramatically
between 2000 and 2006 with only a modest
increase in 2007. The report warns that the
challenge going forward will be to sustain the
necessary financial commitment to maintain an
efficient and focused research effort and
rapidly capitalize on what researchers have
learned thus far.
The report, Sustaining
the HIV Prevention Research Agenda: Funding for
Research and Development of HIV Vaccines,
Microbicides and Other New Prevention Options
(2000 --2007), was released at the
International AIDS Conference in Mexico City by
the HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource
Tracking Working Group. It is available online
at http://www.hivresourcetracking.org/.
According
to the annual report -- which reviews funding
from governments, private philanthropy and
industry -- the total 2007 global investment in
HIV vaccine R&D was $961 million and total
investment in microbicides was $226.5 million,
representing a 2 to 3 percent increase in
funding from 2006 to 2007, but a tripling of
funding over 2000 levels.
In addition,
the Working Group documented approximately
$53.4 million in R&D investment in 2007 for
R&D for adult male circumcision, herpes
simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) suppression,
cervical barriers and pre-exposure prophylaxis
using antiretroviral drugs (PrEP). Global
investments in R&D for these approaches has
equaled $208 million since 2001, which do not
include much of the expensive pre-clinical and
product development efforts involved in vaccine
and microbicide research.
"We've seen an
incredible scale up of funding for vaccine,
microbicide, and other HIV prevention research
over the past eight years," said Mitchell
Warren, Executive Director of AVAC, which
serves as the secretariat of the Working Group.
"This funding invigorated the field and allowed
researchers to move critical projects and
clinical trials forward. Going forward it is
essential that funders remain committed to HIV
prevention research."
"Results in recent
microbicide and vaccine trials have led a few
critics to suggest rethinking government
funding for biomedical prevention research.
This report argues that support from all
sectors will be needed as we continue the
search for all potentially effective new HIV
prevention options," said Polly Harrison,
Director of the Alliance for Microbicide
Development. "Government funding and government
programs have given us important advances in
prevention research and remain critical for
moving HIV prevention research and development
forward."
"The AIDS epidemic continues
to ravage communities around the world. We
desperately need new prevention options, such
as vaccines and microbicides, to help people
remain uninfected," said Holly Wong, acting
Vice President for Policy of the International
AIDS Vaccine Initiative. "HIV prevention
research is an essential investment. Funding
for the development of these new tools must be
sustained and spent strategically."
The
report prioritizes four key activities for
supporting continued investment in HIV
prevention research, including:
- Sustain
momentum in HIV prevention R&D investment.
Scientific challenges must not affect continued
funding and scale up of R&D efforts.
Sustained funding for vaccine, microbicides and
other HIV prevention research is needed as
researchers explore new approaches to vaccine
and microbicide design, bring novel candidates
to the pipeline and investigate other
prevention options.
- Increase accountability by efficiently linking research and funding to scientific priorities. The HIV prevention community must ensure that R&D activities are focused on key priorities and not duplicative of other efforts.
- Support an expanded toolbox of new prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the epidemic. A comprehensive plan to combat the epidemic requires investment in a wide range of more effective methods of prevention to complement expanding access to existing HIV treatment and prevention options.
- Develop and validate estimates of future HIV prevention R&D investment need. Funders, policy-makers, civil society and researchers should jointly develop an updated, data-driven, comprehensive assessment of investment needs for HIV prevention research. Projected funding requirements can be used as a tool to determine gaps when measured against real-world spending and support greater accountability by tying spending to investment needs.
"The world desperately needs new HIV prevention options to help stop new HIV infections. Funding research and development of new vaccines and microbicides must remain a priority as we scale up towards universal access to HIV prevention and treatment," said Jose Antonio Izazola, the Chief of the AIDS Financing and Economics Division of UNAIDS. "With nearly three new infections occurring for every single person put on treatment, the potential lifesaving benefits of vaccines and microbicides make the investment worthwhile. Funding at all stages of R&D -- from basic research to efficacy trials -- must remain a global priority."