Vaccine Advance Underscores Need for Leadership

Contact: media@aidsaction.org or call: 202- 986-1300

Washington, D.C. -- In light of today’s FDA announcement about exciting advances in vaccine trials, AIDS Action is urging the Clinton Administration to ensure the most dynamic and effective vaccine effort possible by acting immediately to fill the director vacancy at the National Institutes of Health’s HIV Vaccine Research Center.

“We can’t treat the vaccine director’s post like it’s a simple ambassadorial post,” said Daniel Zingale, AIDS Action executive director. “It’s like a Manhattan Project without a Robert Oppenheimer. Lives are lost every day we don’t have a vaccine and time is lost every day we don’t have a vaccine director.”

The Food and Drug Administration today granted permission to VaxGen to begin the Phase III trials of its experimental AIDS vaccine, Aidsvax. The trials will involve more than 5,000 United States subjects and 2,500 in Thailand.

“Phase III trials are just that, trials,” added Zingale. “This is exciting news and an important development but a proven vaccine remains elusive and will remain so even longer without the kind of dynamic leadership a vaccine director will bring.”

AIDS Action is equally concerned that the quest for a preventative vaccine will detract from the search for more effective treatments for those already infected. The long-term effectiveness of current protease cocktail treatments remains a mystery and drug failure is expected to be a central issue at the upcoming International AIDS Conference in Geneva.

“We need to protect the health of the infected as well as the uninfected,” added Zingale. “The current generation of AIDS drugs don’t work for everyone and are a cure for no one. We need continued vigilance in our search for a genuine cure for AIDS.”

Throughout its history, AIDS Action has made research a top priority, working with major government, advocacy and philanthropic organizations toward a preventative vaccine and treatments that would disarm the AIDS virus.