New Report Finds Investment in AIDS Vaccine and Microbicide R&D Continues to Increase...

New Report Finds Investment in AIDS Vaccine and Microbicide R&D Continues to
Increase Incrementally in 2007

Calls for Sustained Funding to Maintain HIV Prevention Research Efforts

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report released today
shows that funding for biomedical HIV prevention research and development
(R&D), including AIDS vaccines and microbicides, increased dramatically
between 2000 and 2006 with only a modest increase in 2007. The report warns
that the challenge going forward will be to sustain the necessary financial
commitment to maintain an efficient and focused research effort and rapidly
capitalize on what researchers have learned thus far.

The report, Sustaining the HIV Prevention Research Agenda: Funding for
Research and Development of HIV Vaccines, Microbicides and Other New
Prevention Options (2000 - 2007), was released at the International AIDS
Conference in Mexico City by the HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource
Tracking Working Group. It is available online at
www.hivresourcetracking.org.

According to the annual report - which reviews funding from governments,
private philanthropy and industry - the total 2007 global investment in HIV
vaccine R&D was $961 million and total investment in microbicides was $226.5
million, representing a 2 to 3 percent increase in funding from 2006 to 2007,
but a tripling of funding over 2000 levels.

In addition, the Working Group documented approximately $53.4 million in R&D
investment in 2007 for R&D for adult male circumcision, herpes simplex virus
type 2 (HSV-2) suppression, cervical barriers and pre-exposure prophylaxis
using antiretroviral drugs (PrEP). Global investments in R&D for these
approaches has equaled $208 million since 2001, which do not include much of
the expensive pre-clinical and product development efforts involved in vaccine
and microbicide research.

"We've seen an incredible scale up of funding for vaccine, microbicide, and
other HIV prevention research over the past eight years," said Mitchell
Warren, Executive Director of AVAC, which serves as the secretariat of the
Working Group. "This funding invigorated the field and allowed researchers to
move critical projects and clinical trials forward. Going forward it is
essential that funders remain committed to HIV prevention research."

"Results in recent microbicide and vaccine trials have led a few critics to
suggest rethinking government funding for biomedical prevention research.
This report argues that support from all sectors will be needed as we continue
the search for all potentially effective new HIV prevention options," said
Polly Harrison, Director of the Alliance for Microbicide Development.
"Government funding and government programs have given us important advances
in prevention research and remain critical for moving HIV prevention research
and development forward."

"The AIDS epidemic continues to ravage communities around the world. We
desperately need new prevention options, such as vaccines and microbicides, to
help people remain uninfected," said Holly Wong, acting Vice President for
Policy of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. "HIV prevention research
is an essential investment. Funding for the development of these new tools
must be sustained and spent strategically."

The report prioritizes four key activities for supporting continued investment
in HIV prevention research, including:

-- Sustain momentum in HIV prevention R&D investment. Scientific challenges
must not affect continued funding and scale up of R&D efforts. Sustained
funding for vaccine, microbicides and other HIV prevention research is needed
as researchers explore new approaches to vaccine and microbicide design, bring
novel candidates to the pipeline and investigate other prevention options.

-- Increase accountability by efficiently linking research and funding to
scientific priorities. The HIV prevention community must ensure that R&D
activities are focused on key priorities and not duplicative of other efforts.

-- Support an expanded toolbox of new prevention options as part of a
comprehensive response to the epidemic. A comprehensive plan to combat the
epidemic requires investment in a wide range of more effective methods of
prevention to complement expanding access to existing HIV treatment and
prevention options.

-- Develop and validate estimates of future HIV prevention R&D investment
need. Funders, policy-makers, civil society and researchers should jointly
develop an updated, data-driven, comprehensive assessment of investment needs
for HIV prevention research. Projected funding requirements can be used as a
tool to determine gaps when measured against real-world spending and support
greater accountability by tying spending to investment needs.

"The world desperately needs new HIV prevention options to help stop new HIV
infections. Funding research and development of new vaccines and microbicides
must remain a priority as we scale up towards universal access to HIV
prevention and treatment," said Jose Antonio Izazola, the Chief of the AIDS
Financing and Economics Division of UNAIDS. "With nearly three new infections
occurring for every single person put on treatment, the potential lifesaving
benefits of vaccines and microbicides make the investment worthwhile. Funding
at all stages of R&D - from basic research to efficacy trials - must remain a
global priority."

The HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group was
established in 2004 to generate and disseminate high-quality, detailed and
comparable data on annual investments in preventive HIV vaccine and
microbicide research and development (R&D), and policy and advocacy
activities. These data can be used to monitor current levels of effort;
identify trends in investment, spending, and research focus; identify areas
needing more resources and effort; assess the impact of public policies aimed
at increasing investment in new prevention options; and provide a fact base
for policy advocacy on R&D investments and allocations. The Working Group is
comprised of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), the Alliance for
Microbicide Development (AMD), the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
(IAVI) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). More
information is available at http://www.hivresourcetracking.org.

SOURCE AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition

Mitchell Warren of AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, +1-914-661-1536,
mitchell@avac.org; or Rachel Steinhardt of International AIDS Vaccine
Initiative, +1-212-847-1045, rsteinhardt@iavi.org; or Polly Harrison of
Alliance for Microbicide Development, +1-301-587-9690,
pharrison@microbicide.org; or Mahesh Mahalingam of Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS, +52-55-1392-5721, maheshm@unaids.org