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

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* Encouraging the development of vaccine approaches that are not actively being pursued
and new approaches that could be appropriate for eventual use in developing countries
by providing financial resources and other types of incentives (see section 3.1). This
might include directly funding vaccine companies to undertake particular steps in
developing promising vaccine candidates.
In addition the initiative will need to work with other national and international agencies to:
* Ensure the active participation of individuals from all areas of the world in the planning,
conduct, and evaluation of research and development for HIV vaccines. Provide
additional financial and human resources to strengthen local capacities where necessary.
* Encourage and facilitate collaboration between the public sector and the private sector.
* Monitor the worldwide progress of promising vaccine approaches and candidates, and the
global capacity to conduct safety and efficacy testing of vaccine candidates.
* Encourage national and international authorities to consider and resolve issues identified
by the private sector as disincentives to vaccine development in general, and to HIV
vaccines in particular, such as:
- The commercial unpredictability arising from the lack of efficient mechanisms for
dealing with liability and compensation for vaccine injury not associated with
manufacturer negligence;
- The lack of consistent international guidelines on issues relating to safety and efficacy
testing, and licensure of vaccine candidates against HIV;
- The lack of harmony among international regulatory agencies;
- The commercial unpredictability arising from the lack of recommendations for vaccine
use.
* Ensure HIV vaccines will be accessible and affordable for those at risk of infection.
Activities that the initiative may need to consider undertaking include:
- Identification of potential markets for vaccines in developed and developing countries
and the creation of markets where they do not exist by ensuring that funds will be
available for vaccine procurement (options include exploring the possibility of using
the World Bank's International Development Association loans as a way of
guaranteeing a hard currency market for HIV vaccines that meet certain
specifications).
- Development of plans for ensuring the financing of adequate supplies of vaccine for
use in developed and developing countries once licensed for use.
- Strengthening the capability for self-reliance in vaccine quality assurance, vaccine
"finishing" and in manufacturing where appropriate and necessary.
- Development of strategies for technology transfer if and when it becomes feasible.