‘Devastating’: NIH cancels future funding plans for HIV vaccine consortia
From Science.org…
In a move that could bring future research on HIV vaccines to a near halt, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) notified researchers today that it will not renew funding next year for two major consortia in the beleaguered field, Science has learned. NIAID also recently stopped funding three research groups that evaluate experimental vaccines in monkeys.
The notification, which was communicated verbally by NIAID program officers, “couldn’t have happened at a worse time, because the recent clinical trial results [for candidate HIV vaccines] are very promising,” says Dennis Burton of Scripps Research, who heads one of the two Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD).
Although researchers in the field acknowledge a vaccine for the AIDS-causing virus remains far off, the new leads have brought a fresh sense of optimism, and many scientists say they demand vigorous follow up. “This sets us back at a pivotal moment,” says Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a nonprofit that advocates for HIV prevention. The consortia “really have been pioneers in vaccine discovery,” says Warren, who is not involved in their work.