International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (known as IAVI) is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. IAVI researches and develops vaccine candidates, conducts policy analyses, and serves as an advocate for the field. IAVI supports a comprehensive approach to HIV/AIDS that balances the expansion and strengthening of existing HIV prevention and treatment programs with targeted investments in new AIDS prevention tools. It also works to ensure future vaccines will be accessible to all who need them. To date, no such vaccine exists but [http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10%2E1371%2Fjournal%2Epmed%2E0020035 scientific consensus] suggests that its development is feasible.

IAVI is committed to promoting AIDS vaccine education worldwide, engaging communities in the trial process, and improving medical infrastructure in areas hardest hit by the epidemic. IAVI collaborates with the public and private sectors in both industrialized and developing countries.

IAVI has offices in New York, Amsterdam, New Delhi, Nairobi and Johannesburg.

=History=In 1994, the Rockefeller Foundation convened an international meeting of scientists, public health officials and pharmaceutical industry and NGO leaders in Bellagio, Italy to evaluate the existing barriers to HIV/AIDS development and identify ways to jump-start research. Concluding that there was a gap in existing vaccine development efforts—particularly in applied vaccine development and in coordinated international scientific activities and funding strategies—participants called for a new type of organization to accelerate the development of AIDS vaccines. A scientific meeting held in Paris later that year further assessed the impediments to vaccine progress and proposed a radically different approach to HIV vaccine development that would complement existing efforts. These meetings became the impetus for the establishment of IAVI in 1996, as an international NGO tasked with aggressively pursuing previously-neglected approaches to AIDS vaccine development.

=Research and Development=IAVI’s scientific team, drawn largely from the vaccine industry, researches and develops AIDS vaccine candidates and conducts clinical trials and clinical research through partnerships with more than 40 academic, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and governmental institutions. The organization directs a portfolio of R&D projects, prioritizing promising products and moving them through the vaccine development pipeline.

From 2001 to 2008, IAVI and its network of partners have translated innovative technologies into six vaccine candidates that have entered human trials in 11 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. IAVI’s Human Core Immunology Laboratory, housed at Imperial College London, links HIV/AIDS vaccine immunology laboratories worldwide and provides training and support to field laboratory and clinical staff involved in IAVI-sponsored trials.

To address major obstacles in AIDS vaccine development, IAVI has brought together international HIV researchers spanning the US, Japan, and Europe to form three AIDS vaccine consortia. The organization’s Neutralizing Antibody Consortium is designing immunogens to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV, which may be a critical part of an effective vaccine. In the Live Attenuated Consortium, scientists are studying a promising vaccination strategy against simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which causes an AIDS-like disease in some non-human primates. The Vectors Consortium pursues novel viral vectors that have been identified as promising for their potential use in HIV vaccines but have not been adequately pursued to date. These include hybrid viruses, vectors derived from reoviruses, and Newcastle Disease virus. In partnership with the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, IAVI recently established the AIDS Vaccine Development Laboratory in New York to examine new HIV candidate platforms, standardize preclinical testing, and generate the next generation of promising AIDS vaccine candidates.

=Partnering with Developing Countries=IAVI implements a major part of its research, policy, and advocacy programs in developing countries, where 95% of new HIV infections occur. Partnering with local researchers, policymakers, and community and women’s health organizations, IAVI conducts educational initiatives, facilitates voluntary HIV counseling and testing, and builds capacity to ensure an effective and transparent clinical trial process. It also supports local partners advocating for the development of national AIDS vaccine plans to provide vaccine research and development guidelines.

IAVI’s AIDS vaccine trials, carried out in collaboration with local scientists, are conducted primarily in Africa and India. Local partner institutions include the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Rwanda’s Projet San Francisco, the Uganda Virus Research Institute, the Indian Council of Medical Research, and the Zambia Emory HIV Research Project, among others. In other areas of the world where IAVI has not sponsored AIDS vaccine trials—Brazil and China, for example—the organization works with on-the-ground partners to support national efforts in AIDS vaccine research and mobilization.

=Public Policy and Advocacy=IAVI partners with other organizations to analyze how improved public policies could help to accelerate AIDS vaccine R&D and ensure rapid global access to a future vaccine. IAVI’s advocacy program builds on this policy analysis to promote awareness among political, community, financial, and scientific leaders about the urgent need for an AIDS vaccine. In recent years advocacy has focused on the G8 forum, the United Nations General Assembly meetings on AIDS, the UN Millennium Development Goals, and regional and global AIDS conferences. As part of the organization’s advocacy in developing countries, IAVI supports the India-Brazil-South Africa trilateral agreement as a vehicle for spurring cooperation in vaccine development among countries with growing biomedical research and manufacturing capabilities.

IAVI is a founding member of the Global AIDS Vaccine Enterprise, which is an alliance of independent organisations involved in HIV vaccine research and development.

=Publications=IAVI publishes a range of materials on topics related to AIDS vaccine development. IAVI’s biennial "Scientific Blueprint" provides updates on progress and challenges in the AIDS vaccine field. The bimonthly "IAVI Report" and monthly "VAX" publications track the latest news in vaccine development and related topics and include a database of all AIDS vaccine trials, as does IAVI’s website. IAVI’s Policy Briefs, Policy Working Papers, and Policy Discussion Papers document a range of topics, including vaccine R&D expenditures and future spending needs, vaccine demand forecasting and health and economic impacts, and incentives to increase industry participation in vaccine discovery.

=Donors=IAVI’s financial and in-kind supporters include the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, The John D. Evans Foundation, The New York Community Trust, the James B. Pendleton Charitable Trust, The Rockefeller Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; the Governments of Canada, Denmark, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the Basque Autonomous Government as well as the European Union; multilateral organizations such as The World Bank; corporate donors including BD (Becton, Dickinson & Co.), Bristol-Myers Squibb, Continental Airlines, Google Inc., Henry Schein, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc. and Pfizer Inc; leading AIDS charities such as Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Until There’s A Cure Foundation; other private donors such as The Haas Trusts; and many individuals from around the world.

ee also

– HIV or AIDS

– HIV vaccine

– Clinical Trials

– Advance market commitments

– Globalization and Health

External links

– [http://www.iavi.org IAVI Website]
– [http://www.iavireport.org IAVI Report]
– [http://www.iavireport.org/trialsdb IAVI Database of AIDS Vaccines in Human Trials]
– [http://www.iavi.org.in/ IAVI India]
– [http://www.iavi.or.ug/ Uganda Virus Research Institute/IAVI HIV Vaccine Program]
– [http://www.kavi.org Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative]
– [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k73s0pmO3u8 HIV/AIDS: The Search for a Vaccine Video]
– [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l2O7u70fgk Toward a World without AIDS Video]