Request for Cooperative Agreement Applications: RFA-NIH-NIAID

2

I. SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND
The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a newly
recognized disease that destroys the body's capacity to overcome
a variety of infections.
The National..Institutes of Health and other agencies in the
Public Health Service are currently supporting extramural and
intramural projects for the study of the etiology, natural
history, and demographics of AIDS; for the screening of high-risk
individuals; for determining means of diminishing the risk of
infection; and for the development of prophylactic vaccines and
other methods of prevention. Notwithstanding these efforts, the
rapidity of the increase in diagnosed cases of AIDS and the
morbidity of the disease require the mobilization of the most
creative scientific talents, regardless of their scientific
discipline or organizational affiliations, into groups whose
objective is to pursue aggressively a concerted research effort
to discover entities and strategies for prevention of this
disease through the use of vaccines. By February 1987, over
30,000 cases of AIDS had been reported in the United States and
more than 17,000 of these patients had died. Recent surveillance
studies indicate that the total number of AIDS cases is doubling
every 10-12 months, with projections of approximately 140,000 to
200,000 cases by 1991. Recent projections indicate that
1,500,000 persons presently in the United States may already be
infected with the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) the
etiologic agent associated with AIDS. It has been estimated that
25% of infected persons will develop the AIDS Related Complex
within five years and that 5-20% of the latter will develop AIDS.
These figures emphasize the potential risk to the general
population.
The National Cooperative Vaccine Development Groups for the
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (NCVDG) will provide
assistance to talented scientists to interact, with NIAID
support, as a unit to carry out the research essential for the
realization of project objectives. An NCVDG should be composed
of scientists from academic and/or non-profit research
institutions, and commercial organizations.
II. PURPOSE
Many single institutions may not have either the critical mass of
all of the talents or the ancillary resources needed to translate
leads from basic studies into new entities and strategies for
AIDS vaccine research. A funding arrangement that permits the
combination of available research expertise from diverse
institutions with the facilitating resources of the NIAID is
desirable. Units, in which these research talents and resources
are combined, are termed "NATIONAL COOPERATIVE VACCINE
DEVELOPMENT GROUPS FOR THE ACQUIRED IMMUNODEFICIENCY SYNDROME"
(NCVDG). They are envisioned as having the capacity to generate