Do Something
The Gates Foundation sets the bar high with a $100 million AIDS research grant
BY JEFF CHU Davos
| JANUARY 27 |
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It's not all talk, no action here in Davos. On Saturday, the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $100 million grant to the
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) for work on AIDS vaccine
development. The gift, the foundation's third and largest donation to the
IAVI, comes on the heels of an earlier announcement about the launch of
clinical trials of a possible AIDS vaccine designed specifically for
Africa.
The Gates Foundation has now committed a total of $126.5 million to the
IAVI over the past three years. According to Patty Stonesifer, executive
director of the Gates Foundation, this most recent gift is a "fiscal and
political" challenge both to the business community and to governments
around the world. "It seemed the right time to say, 'We'll be there as
they scale up if you'll be there,'" she said.
The IAVI estimates that it will need $550 million to fund its work
through 2007. So far, it has raised about half of that. Its first vaccine
candidates began human trials last August, while initial testing of the
new vaccine — to target the subtype A of the HIV virus most common in East
Africa — will begin shortly in Nairobi. These early-stage trials are
designed to gauge safety and to study the impact of the vaccine on a
healthy human system. It will be at least four or five years at the
earliest before a potential vaccine will be ready for full-scale Phase
III testing.
The Gates grant is a rare and welcome concrete move at a meeting
traditionally geared toward conceptual thinking and development of ideas.
Part of the point of announcing the gift at Davos was to send a message
to the global glitterati in attendance that something must be done. In a
statement, Bill Gates said, "The leaders gathered here should go away
from Davos with a unanimous and absolute commitment to the International
AIDS Vaccine Initiative." They may or may not, but at least the example
has been set.
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