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The worldwide search for an HIV vaccine received a boost Thursday as the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced funding
of nine U.S. clinical units of the new HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN).

The HVTN, expected to be fully established within a month, will provide a
comprehensive clinically-based network to develop and test preventive HIV
vaccines. In addition to the units based in the United States, participating sites
will be located in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

"This NIAID network creates a coordinated, global framework in which to
conduct clinical HIV vaccine research," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci,
M.D. "The HVTN will strengthen and expand our HIV vaccine studies both
domestically and in countries devastated by the AIDS pandemic."

NIAID is providing over $29 million for the first year of the HVTN. The
organization's clinical trials sites are coordinated by a Leadership Group that
includes a Core Operations Center, which will provide administrative, technical
and operational support, a Statistical and Data Management Center, and a
Central Laboratory.

NIAID's HIV vaccine research program was previously centered in two separate
groups: the U.S.-based AIDS Vaccine Evaluation Group (AVEG), which carried
out early-stage testing of vaccine candidates, and the HIV Network for
Prevention Trials (HIVNET), which conducted domestic and international trials of
HIV vaccine and other prevention strategies.

AVEG and HIVNET investigators, along with other scientists worldwide,
underwent a competitive peer-reviewed evaluation process during the creation of
the new network.

"The HVTN will build upon the many accomplishments of the AVEG and
HIVNET," explains Peggy Johnston, Ph.D., NIAID's assistant director for AIDS
vaccines. "The comprehensive clinical research agenda addresses many
promising scientific opportunities to develop an HIV vaccine, which is ultimately
the best hope for preventing the spread of HIV."

Scientific creativity, along with collaboration between private industry, academia
and government, are key aspects of the HVTN's design.

The HVTN will conduct all phases of clinical trials, from evaluating candidate
vaccines for safety and the ability to stimulate immune responses, to testing
vaccine efficacy.

The network's web of U.S.-based units integrated with sites around the globe will
allow the HVTN to expand rapidly to carry out larger scale studies of suitable
vaccines. Many of the international institutions already have extensive
experience in HIV prevention studies.

Dr. Johnston notes, "Through the leadership of local scientists and in
partnership with other stakeholders, the network's international components
provide a critical capability to help identify vaccines appropriate for those regions
hit hardest by AIDS."

Lawrence Corey, M.D., will lead the HVTN's Core Operations Center at the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) in Seattle. Dr. Corey, head of
the FHCRC's Infectious Diseases Program and professor of medicine and
laboratory medicine at the University of Washington, says, "We have assembled
an exceptionally strong and talented clinical and laboratory research team that is
uniquely qualified to meet the many challenges facing the HIV vaccine effort."

The network's Statistical and Data Management Center, led by Steve Self,
Ph.D., will also be located at the FHCRC. Kent Weinhold, Ph.D., will direct the
Central Laboratory at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

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