Hello, the Independent paper in the UK has just published a survey that states most researchers believe a vaccine will never be found and that "after 25 years and billions of dollars, perhaps the search for a vaccine should stop". I was pretty anoyed to read this largely negative survey as in my view, each day groundbreaking work continues to highlight major steps towards finding new ways to tackle HIV and the hope for millions, especially poor communities who do not benefit from todays already hugely sucessful treatments. I was wondering what your view and the view of others was - should be stop looking for the vaccine?

Thanks Mark

Hello,

There is no doubt that HIV vaccine (both therapeutic and preventive) research hit more than a minor speed bump with the collapse of several large vaccine trials last year. In fact the majority of vaccine research was stopped dead in its tracks! Some very prominent and respected HIV researchers have recently said we are no closer to a vaccine now than we were 20 years ago. Some have even warned an effective safe HIV vaccine may never become a reality due to the virus's unique properties. The discussion now is whether to go back to the drawing board with vaccines or to consider shifting our research focus to finding a non-vaccine cure perhaps an alternative immune-based therapy or gene therapy. So is it time to give up? No, of course not. However, it may be time to seriously consider taking what we've learned from our failed vaccine trials (we've learned a lot) and applying it to other promising potential cures. I'm anticipating this discussion will heat up in the coming months. Of course if we had spent even a fraction of the money ($5,000 per second) Dubya has squandered on his misguided and catastrophic war in Iraq, we would have cured not only HIV/AIDS but most likely many other ailments as well. President Obama can't get here too soon!

Dr. Bob