AIDS Vaccine Panel Discussion [Minutes]

7-APR-97 PACHA AIDS VACCINE PANEL DIscussioN - p. 10

useful. I don't think funding is the primary issue that's keeping products out of the
distal end of the pipeline. It's more of a philosophy than it is a funding issue. However,
I do think that you could -- I derive a model, which I don't have time to get into, to
come up with a figure of $360 million a year. It has to do with averted health care
costs based upon preventing 30 percent of new infections every year in the United
States. If that money is available, I think a substantial proportion should be earmarked
to underwrite, leverage, or contract with private industry.
Do I think a full-time AIDS coordinator in the White House would be of value?
I don't think we need anymore chiefs. I think there are a lot of chiefs already. I think
that there is tremendous talent already in the field that's been working in this area for
well over a decade, and that these individuals with presidential mandate would be
sufficient.
I also don't think that any one person is probably capable of doing this. I think
that two people may be much better at leading an overall effort, one a basic scientist
who has an appreciation for development, and the other a developer who has an
appreciation for basic science, working as a team. I don't think you'll find any one
person like that.
So those are the four recommendations.
DR. LEVINE: Thank you very much.
The order will change to some extent here based upon the fact that Dr.
Baltimore has been delayed until 10:00. So at this point, I would like to introduce Dr.
William Paul, who is director of the Office of AIDS Research, as we all know, at NIH,
and chief of the Laboratory of Immunology at NIAID. Dr. Paul is a wellacknowledged scientist who discovered IL-4 and is a very prominent scientist in the
area of immunology and HIV. He's a member of the National Academy of Sciences
and other prestigious bodies, editor of the Annual Review of Immunology. He has
made a tremendous impact in the area of AIDS since he has been in this position, and
we thank him very much for being here.
DR. PAUL: Well, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you, and I'm particularly
grateful that we're going to have the opportunity to discuss vaccines, because as Dr.
McNeil has said and many of you will know, of course, the need for a vaccine for this
terrible infection transcends really all of our concerns.
Most of you will be aware of the fact that the recent Levine Report placed
vaccine development and building of the knowledge base for HIV and AIDS as its
leading recommendations, and these accord very well with the priorities that have been
put in place in the OAR since 1994, when I became director. I just want to bring you