AIDS Vaccine Panel Discussion [Minutes]

7-APR-97 PACHA AIDS VACCINE PANEL DISCUSSION - p. 56

panelists here who have brought up specific ideas about that to help us put that into
words, and I think that will be very helpful for us.
The other is this "council" or "consortium," and I want to address that. We
actually talked a bit about changing the word and the impacts it has. I'd be curious to
know if you believe it's better to call it a consortium -- and we saw it very much like the
Keystone process. What I'm troubled by is, a couple of people on this panel mentioned
that it was duplicative, and it's my understanding this would not be a duplicative-type
body. There are groups like Dr. Baltimore's that are made up of scientists and advising
the NIH, but there doesn't seem to be a group that is a consortium like this, and I don't
think it's duplicative.
We certainly don't want just another council or just another commission. We
clearly wanted something that wasn't, and I'm curious to hear if I'm getting that right, if
you think it is duplicative, and whether it should be called a consortium or council.
DR. LEVINE: And can I just add one other thing to it? The concept that we had of that
committee, or council or whatever, was not -- under no circumstance was that
committee going to be able to develop a vaccine. It was a place where all of the issues
could be aired, the legal issues, the ethical issues, things from industry, industrial. So
that was our concept. That's what we were trying to get to. Now, does such a thing
exist or not?
DR. PAUL: I don't believe there is currently such an organization, and I think there's no
doubt that having leadership from Mr. Gore and a group he could bring together of
some note, if not on a quarterly basis, but some reasonable [frequency, I] feel would be
very valuable. I think that the prestige of the highest levels of government in this is
very important. I think we'd all be very anxious to be able to participate in those
events.
DR. LEVINE: Other comments?
DR. JOHNSTON: I think if such a consortium gets formed, then the goals of that consortium
need to be very clearly defined, and I would suggest that the goal be to attract more
investment and more resources into the private sector side of this equation. We've
heard how the science is covered, and I agree with that. I would not agree that the
development side is covered.
Now, there are two ways to bring private sector to the table. One is to help
them on the front end, through direct funding so that the products that are needed to be
evaluated are made in a way that are viable products, and that not only contribute to
the empiric arm, but also contribute to the clinical research arm, which feeds back into
better vaccine development.