HIV Vaccines - Accelerating the Development of Preventive HIV Vaccines for the World: Summary Report and Recommendations of an International Meeting

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4.2 Characteristics of a new initiative
The participants felt that the new initiative must have a well defined mandate, and must work
closely with and be responsive to the needs of industry, national research agencies, national
governments, and international agencies.
Other characteristics identified were:
* The ability to mobilize the collective efforts of a number of different sectors of the world
economy - national governments, private companies, non-governmental organizations,
and international organizations.
* The ability to act decisively, rapidly and to be flexible.
* The ability to undertake innovative development projects entailing calculated scientific and
financial risks.
* A commitment to the highest scientific standards and full respect for ethical considerations
and human rights.
* A finite lifespan.
The final form of the initiative and its sources of funding will need to be developed in consultation
with the anticipated major collaborators. The advantages and disadvantages of various models
for the new initiative were discussed at the Bellagio meeting. Models discussed include (see
Table 3):
* Task force;
* Donor collaboration;
* Private consortia;
* Public/private consortia;
* Not-for-profit institute.
Experiences with specific programs were also discussed. Particular attention was given to the
Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI), as in many ways the role of the proposed initiative is analogous
to the role CVI is playing in the development of childhood vaccines.
The view of the meeting was that a small secretariat, or task force, with an international scientific
steering committee would be an appropriate structure. The secretariat would strive to accelerate
the development of preventive HIV vaccines both by working with other organizations to reduce
the disincentives and by targeting research funds at the critical gaps in product development as
identified by the scientific steering committee. The secretariat would carry out no research of its
own but rather would contract research out to companies, universities and government
laboratories throughout the world.
The meeting participants felt that it was essential that the initiative have its own mandate and
governing structure. It was recognized, however, that given the time delay and resources
required to establish a new organization, it might be appropriate for the initiative to be housed, at
least initially, in an existing organization. Potential homes for the initiative include the World Bank,