HIV Vaccine Awareness Day reinforces importance of vaccines as best hope for fighting AIDS
HIV Vaccine Trials Network salutes thousands of volunteers currently participating in vaccine trials across the nation
SEATTLE, Wash. - Four years after the inaugural HIV Vaccine Awareness Day in 1997, the momentum toward finding an effective vaccine continues to grow.
“An HIV vaccine is our best hope for beating AIDS,” said Dr. Larry Corey, principal investigator at the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) “Close collaboration among the research community is critical to accelerating the search for HIV vaccines. Only through a concerted effort between governments, researchers, volunteers and scientists can we harness our global vaccine trial capacity and ultimately develop vaccines.”
The evidence of progress toward a vaccine is increasing. More than 9,000 people in 53 American cities and 3,000 people abroad have participated in HVTN trials or other trials associated with private industry, governments and other organizations.
Formed by the National Institutes of Health in 1999 and headquartered at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network is a private-public partnership of vaccine researchers whose goal is to speed the discovery of HIV vaccines through coordinated research efforts. The Network currently has one product in trials in the Caribbean and South America, two products in trials in the United States and another planned for testing in South Africa later this year. Also central to the HVTN's role is to analyze and share the data in an effort to push forward the science of an HIV vaccine.
“I commend the researchers associated with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network for their commitment to finding life-saving vaccines,” said United States Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). “Let the strength and courage of the millions now suffering from HIV/AIDS be the motivation for continued hard work on the development of HIV vaccines.”
“A safe and effective HIV vaccine is the only certain way to end the pandemic," said Dr. Gordon Perkin, director of the global health program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Vaccine development must continue to be a top priority. At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we applaud efforts of organizations like the HVTN to accelerate a solution.”
“Volunteers are the unsung heroes of vaccine development, since human testing is critical to determining whether a vaccine is effective,” said Seth Berkley, MD, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. ‘The work the HVTN is doing to prepare trial sites is essential to widening the pipeline and speeding the development of promising AIDS vaccine candidates.”
About the HIV Vaccine Trials Network
The HVTN conducts all phases of clinical trials, from evaluating candidate vaccines for safety and the ability to stimulate immune responses, to testing vaccine efficacy. Formed in 1999 by the Division of AIDS of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases within the National Institutes of Health, the HVTN mission is to develop and test preventive HIV vaccines through clinical trials around the world.
Located in Seattle, Washington, under the auspices of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the HVTN celebrated its one-year milestone in May 2001. For more information, visit the web at www.hvtn.org
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