AIDS Vaccine Panel Discussion [Minutes]

7-APR-97 PACHA AIDS VACCINE PANEL DIscussIoN - p. 45

can have its full impact. That will be a major part of the committee's activities into the
future.
You asked that each of us here respond to certain questions, and let me go back
and consider those questions.
I do not think that it is possible to put a date on when a vaccine should be
ready, and I think we've heard that from many people. There are just too many
uncertainties. I think it's important to recognize that even the prime/boost strategy,
which is the furthest along in testing, it's hard to see how that could be ready in less
than 5 years, even with great success. If, as is likely, an improved vaccine will be
needed and maybe a whole new vaccine concept, then the minimum date becomes
much longer.
Fixing a date may seem like a way to galvanize a response by the scientific
community, but I have found scientists both within the AIDS field and in peripheral
areas [are] deeply committed to the development of a vaccine. And, of course, fixing a
date risks disappointment.
Now, setting a goal of the development of a vaccine within a decade does
provide a very long lead time and is a sort of general enough statement that it could be
an acceptable benchmark. However, rather than galvanizing a response, it may be seen
as depressing, particularly in the less-developed world. My own inclination would be
to avoid setting a date.
The issue of how much money the program needs, I'm going to leave to others.
I think they've probably spoken about this. I don't fully understand the ins and outs of
budgets, but I can say one thing. The increased funds for vaccine research made
available over just these last years allowed us to initiate the new, as we call them,
innovation grants. If more money were available, we could expand this and other
programs into more areas of HIV-related research. I particularly hope that we can
develop a stronger intramural vaccine effort within NIH.
A word about the coordination of the vaccine effort. At the level of NIH, there
is extensive coordination. I am spending at least 25 percent of my time on this effort,
and I discuss the shape of the vaccine program continually with Drs. Paul, Fauci,
Klausner, and Varmus. I have found the staff at the Division of AIDS and at the Office
of AIDS Research to be remarkably up to date on everything occurring around the
country and around the world. However, coordination activities among the different
government agencies and internationally is an activity that our committee has not
addressed. We hope to initiate such coordination discussions in the future, and, of
course, we'd be very happy to work with you all on that.