HIV vaccines: resolved that more fundamental research on vaccine development is required prior to the implementation of phase III trials of certain HIV vaccines.
Int Conf AIDS 1996 Jul 7-12; 11:214 (abstract no. Tu.09) Moore JP; Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York, NY, USA.
Society desperately needs a vaccine to slow HIV-1 spread. New drug therapies may help richer nations, but are unaffordable to most of the world. A vaccine and increasedducational interventions provide the only hope for much of Africa, Asia and South America. But how is Western science best able to develop a vaccine? I believe candidate vaccines that are available for efficacy trials in 1996 lack the power to intervene significantly in the AIDS epidemic. Focussing resources on these products will not be helpful, and may actually be counter-productive. Instead, we need to set vaccine development on a sound intellectual and practical footing to ensure the long-term success of our endeavors. New products must be designed and evaluated with the needs of the developing world in mind. For too long, corporate and social pressures have pushed national vaccine programs towards efficacy trials, but judgement can often be used to assess the worth of a vaccine candidate, even without the formal proof that an efficacy trial provides. Phase II clinical trials in humans and tests of related concepts in animals provide evidence that can be used to form such judgements. The error part of "trial-and-error" needs to be acknowledged more often than it is.
Keywords: AEGIS, AIDS Vaccines, Clinical Trials, HIV-1, Foundations, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Research, Asia, Africa, South America, Human, economics, ICA11
