Research Fundamentals: An HIV Vaccine — What’s the challenge and what’s the science?

Some vaccines are easier to develop than others. COVID-19 vaccines were developed with unprecedented speed, taking a matter of months to become available. A measles vaccine took about 10 years to develop. But the field’s been working on an HIV vaccine for 40 years.

In this episode, AVAC’s Jeanne Baron and co-host immunologist Katharine Kripke of AVENIR Health explore why HIV is different with two experts on vaccine research: Caltech’s Pamela Bjorkman and IAVI’s Vincent Kioi.

Learn how HIV has evolved like no other virus today to escape detection by the immune system. Learn why the right target on HIV is so hard to reach and how scientists are tackling it all.

Previous Research Fundamentals

More Vaccine Resources

Time to Develop a Vaccine

We know that an AIDS vaccine is possible and that a vaccine will be an important part of a long-term strategy to end the AIDS epidemic. The road ahead is long, but clinical trials—even those with disappointing results—and early-stage research provide critical clues to the way forward. This graphic is excerpted from Vaccines by the Numbers: Trials, discoveries, money and more.

Phase 1 mRNA HIV Vaccine Trials

A breakdown of current HIV mRNA trials and a primer on the basics of mRNA technology.

Breaking Down the Latest in HIV Cure Research: What do new data mean for people living with HIV

In this AVAC-hosted webinar, researchers broke down the recent case of HIV cure, the first among women. Speakers also provided updates from an ongoing trial studying pediatric remission. Participants learned what these advances mean for science and for people living with HIV. Watch the recording here.

Consultation with FP/SRH Stakeholders on the Dual Prevention Pill

This report summarizes and reports next steps from an AVAC and FP2030 convened consultation with family planning (FP) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) stakeholders. The aim of the consultation was to understand stakeholders’ unique perspectives on the Dual Prevention Pill (DPP), a daily oral pill that prevents HIV and pregnancy. The consultation helped to elevate questions and issues to consider as DPP introduction plans are refined and that can also inform the development and delivery of future multi-purpose prevention technologies (MPTs).

What Matters Right Now for Rolling Out the Ring and Injectable PrEP?

The HIV field has two new approved prevention options waiting in the wings, the dapivirine vaginal ring and injectable cabotegravir as PrEP. Until now, daily oral PrEP, first approved in 2012, has been the only drug-based strategy for HIV prevention.

So here we are: research has shown safety and efficacy for both the ring and injectable cabotegravir. Now it’s time to take the next steps to deliver these options and translate advances in science into real impact on the epidemic.

At AVAC, we’ve been calling for coordinated planning to introduce and rollout new products, while expanding access to existing options. These efforts must learn from the mistakes of the past, especially lessons from rolling out oral PrEP.

In this episode of PxPulse, Linda-Gail Bekker from South Africa’s Desmond Tutu Health Foundation and Lillian Mworeko from the International Community of Women Living with HIV East Africa (ICWEA) join host Jeanne Baron and AVAC’s Executive Director Mitchell Warren to discuss innovative models for scale-up and delivery. Taking the right steps now could mean HIV prevention options fulfill their life-saving, epidemic-ending potential, and to do so requires working faster and more efficiently than ever before.

We dive into what lessons the field has learned, what’s still off-track, and the steps advocates, policy makers, drug makers and funders should each take right now to turn efficacious options into effective choices.

Resources

Dapivirine Vaginal Ring
Cabotegravir
Ring and CAB

Experimental mRNA-based Preventive HIV Vaccine Phase 1 Trials

The NIH announced a new study to test three mRNA-based HIV vaccine candidates. This study follows an announcement in January from IAVI about another mRNA-based HIV vaccine study. This snapshot compares the two studies.

TB CAB 10-Year Anniversary Evaluation Report 2011–2021 and Podcast

This report details an evaluation of the Global Tuberculosis Community Advisory Board after 10 years of functioning, highlighting strengths, identifying challenging, and illuminating the pathway forward. Visit here for the report and accompanying podcast series.

HIV Testing for Advocates

Basics of HIV Testing and Implications for HIV Prevention

This slide deck provides and overview of HIV testing—types of test, WHO guidelines, current issues in testing, looking ahead, resources and more.

Product Introduction for Advocates

Basic Elements of Product Introduction for HIV Prevention

This slide deck provides an overview of product introduction, the process of moving products to the “real world”— an interrelated set of actions needed for global and national health systems to incorporate and deliver new, improved or underused technologies.