[Memorandum to Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS Research Committee Members from Margaret I. Johnston]

THE INTERNATIONAL AIDS VACCINE INITIATIVE

A global initiative to accelerate development of
a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine, or vaccines,
for use throughout the world.
What Is the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative?
IAVI is a global initiative dedicated to quickening the pace of HIV vaccine research and
development, so that a vaccine suitable for use throughout the world can become reality.
It was created to focus the world's attention on the need for a vaccine, and due to the
belief that a HfV vaccine, or vaccines, is possible.
IAVI's role is:
to support research and development activities through a highly targeted applied
vaccine development effort that focuses on the gaps in current R&D; and
to work with governments, private industry, funders and regulatory authorities in
order to create more favorable environments that will encourage increased
investment in vaccine research and development.
IAVI was established in 1995 with the help of the Rockefeller Foundation and other
organizations. This initiative was created following a series of three international
meetings with scientists, financial experts, international philanthropists, policymakers
and members of the HIV-infected community at which the need for -- and potential to
create -- an effective HIV vaccine were explored.
Those attending these meetings noted that new strategies and new ways of thinking
about HIV vaccines were needed. While governments traditionally fund AIDS scientific
research, it is private industry that has the greatest potential to develop an HIV vaccine.
Yet, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have reduced their commitment to
vaccines sharply. Only three companies have advanced their products beyond Phase I
clinical trials.
Because of this, participants in these meetings called for the creation of a coordinated
global vaccine effort that focuses on developing vaccines suitable for use in areas of the
world where HIV infection is spreading most rapidly, that is, in the developing world.
IAVI, an independent nonprofit organization, operates through an interim secretariat
which is temporarily housed at the Rockefeller Foundation's New York offices.
Interim Secretariat * c/~ The Rockcfclkr Foundation * 420 Fifth Avenue * New York, NY 10018-2702 * USA
phone [phone] * fax [phone]