Advocacy Fellow Ntando Yola at AIDS Vaccine 2013

On October 7, at the AIDS Vaccine 2013 Conference in Barcelona, AVAC Advocacy Fellow Ntando Yola gave a powerful speech on the continued and urgent need for an HIV vaccine. We hope you’ll all view the webcast here—and read on for highlights. Stay tuned to the Advocates’ Network for a conference wrap-up and webinar announcement.

Ntando worked at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation as a Community Engagement Coordinator prior to starting his 2013 Advocacy Fellowship hosted by the Networking HIV/AIDS Community of South Africa (NACOSA). In both of these roles, he’s participated in extensive dialogues with communities engaged in HIV prevention research. In the speech, he told the story of Grace, a South African woman living with HIV. “Brother, in ten years we’ll have a vaccine for HIV, won’t we?” she asked him. “At least when the vaccine comes, my son will be 15 years old and he won’t have to worry about HIV the way I have.” Using Grace’s story, as well as his own experiences growing up with—and witnessing the end of—apartheid, Ntando made a strong case for research and stakeholder engagement that reflects the realities of volunteers’ lives. “Trial participants who face everyday living realities in my country like flooded homes in the winter, may face township fires in the summer, live in shared ablutions, have high rates of unemployment. Yet in all these circumstances, they volunteer.”

HIV Vaccine Awareness Day Commemorated Around the World

Each year on May 18, the global HIV/AIDS community commemorates HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD). This year, AVAC worked with civil society and research partners from across the globe on a number of community events to mark the date.

From Beijing to Bangkok, through 12 cities in Africa1 around to New York, Oakland and Los Angeles in the United States, HIV prevention advocates organized a range of events to highlight pressing issues facing the vaccine field today. They also took time to recognize the contribution of trial volunteers, advocates, researchers, funders and policy makers working towards a safe and effective HIV vaccine.

Advocates marched. They wrote editorials in newspapers. They spoke on radio and television. They blogged, tweeted and Skyped. Each of the HVAD events included community voices. “One of the highlights from our event in Harare was the conversation on community engagement in research processes. It’s important for us as community advocates to be meaningfully engaged in research at all levels,” said Tendayi Westerhof, organizer of a May 21 event in Zimbabwe, Sensitizing Community on the Value of HIV Vaccine Research.

For a full list of events, visit our HIV Vaccine Awareness Day page, which includes an Advocacy Toolkit with a range of materials breaking down complex AIDS vaccine science.

1 Nairobi, Kisumu and Thika in Kenya; Kampala and Luwero in Uganda; Jos and Lagos in Nigeria; Lusaka in Zambia; Harare in Zimbabwe; and Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa.

Press Release

AIDS vaccine trial results, while disappointing, must guide continuing search; research for vaccine and other new HIV prevention options must continue

New York, NY – The announcement today that immunizations in a large-scale HIV vaccine trial have been stopped early after an independent scientific review board determined that the vaccine being tested is not effective is a reminder of how challenging it is to develop an effective AIDS vaccine, AVAC said. AIDS vaccine research is in its most promising period in decades with breakthroughs in a number of approaches different from that studied in 505. Even though the trial showed no benefit, analysis of these data will help refine the vaccine research pipeline.

The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced today that the independent Data Safety and Monitoring Board for HVTN 505, a trial testing a two-part vaccine among 2,500 men who have sex with men and transgender women in the United States, recommended that the immunizations be stopped since the data showed that the trial would not be able to show vaccine efficacy. Follow-up of participants will continue.

“This trial has provided a clear, swift answer about a specific vaccine strategy. It’s not the answer we hoped for, but the search doesn’t end here. There are other approaches that must be pursued without delay, and this result will help to focus and guide research efforts,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC executive director. “Researchers need to unpack the data from this trial to understand more about why this strategy didn’t prevent infection.”

HVTN 505 tested a two-part vaccine strategy including a series of DNA “prime” shots with a vaccine “boost” using a vector based on adenovirus type 5 (Ad5), a common cold virus. While a similar but distinct Ad5-vectored candidate failed to show efficacy in two previous trials, the vaccine tested in HVTN 505 had key differences that researchers hoped would overcome the limitations of earlier candidates.

The adenovirus-based vaccine in HVTN 505 is one of several AIDS vaccine approaches being studied. Vaccine concepts based on the successful RV144 vaccine strategy that showed modest efficacy in a large trial in Thailand in 2009 are moving toward efficacy trials in Thailand and South Africa. Researchers have also recently discovered a number of highly potent neutralizing antibodies and are working to translate these into future vaccine strategies.

“While today’s result is disappointing, we need to look at the bigger picture of AIDS vaccine science. Now more than ever, it is critical to maintain robust funding and establish clear timelines and milestones for the development of an HIV vaccine and other HIV prevention options that can help end the AIDS epidemic,” Warren said.

“At the same time, these results highlight that we must also ensure that all available existing prevention options are offered to those who want and can benefit from them – including male and female condoms, HIV treatment, voluntary medical male circumcision, and daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.” Warren said. “While a vaccine remains essential in the long-term fight to end AIDS, we can achieve substantial reductions in new HIV infections in the meantime with fully funded implementation of proven prevention and treatment strategies.”

“There will be many questions and concerns from trial participants, researchers, communities, advocates and others about what the data from HVTN 505 tell us,” Warren said. “NIAID, the trial’s sponsor, has specifically noted the need to understand the finding of slightly higher numbers of infections among vaccine recipients. This finding does not have statistical significance and does not mean that the vaccine increased the risk of HIV. But we do need to understand these data and communicate them clearly. The levels of transparency, urgency and concern that we have seen already from NIAID and HVTN remain crucial as the trial team examines the data and continues to closely monitor trial participants.”

“AVAC also recognizes the enormous contributions of the more than 2,500 volunteers in this trial. Their altruistic involvement makes HIV vaccine research possible. We owe it to them to understand and build on what has been learned here and proceed with further research as rapidly and strategically as possible. The trial staff have also done a huge amount of work and are to be credited for running such a good trial and getting us to an answer.”

“The news today about the halting the trial deeply saddens me as both an HIV vaccine advocate and 505 trial participant,” said Matthew Rose, a member of AVAC’s PxROAR HIV prevention advocacy program. “But I remain hopeful in our search for a vaccine, as this trial showed how researchers and communities can work together to recruit under-represented populations that have not been engaged in AIDS vaccine research. The trial offers a model for how research can be more reflective of the communities that carry the highest burden of HIV and could most benefit from an effective vaccine.”

“These results do not change the fundamental view that an AIDS vaccine remains critical to any long-term strategy to end the AIDS epidemic,” said Rose.

Contact:

Mitchell Warren, [email protected], +1-914-661-1536
Kay Marshall, [email protected], +1-347-249-6375

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About AVAC: Founded in 1995, AVAC is a non-profit organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.

Achieving the End

Recent breakthroughs in HIV prevention research have created unprecedented opportunities to curb new HIV infections, save lives and set the world on a path towards eliminating HIV transmission.

Follow-on trials based on RV144: Strategy includes development and research tracks

This graphic from AVAC Report 2012 shows several planned vaccine trials building on the results of the RV144 AIDS vaccine trial.

Neutralizing Antibodies: Research pathways in 2013 and beyond

There are multiple lines of inquiry stemming from the discovery of potent, broadly neutralizing antibodies that have been isolated from HIV-infected individuals. This graphic from AVAC Report 2012 presents two pathways exploring the use of BNAbs as an HIV prevention tool.

Reaching the Tipping Point: The time to act is now

AVAC Playbook 2012-2013: Progress toward global goals

AVAC first published its Playbook of global goals for ending AIDS in late 2011. This infographic from the AVAC Report 2012 builds on the objectives from 2011 and identifies five priorities for action in 2013.

The Change We Need to End AIDS in Uganda

2012 AVAC Fellow Alice Kayongo played a leading role in developing a civil society report, “The Change We Need to End AIDS in Uganda”, which details concerns and recommendations for shaping the national AIDS response in Uganda. This report was presented at the Joint Annual Review (JAR) of the country’s five-year National Strategic Plan (NSP) for responding to HIV/AIDS, which was first launched about a year ago. The mid-October JAR meeting was an opportunity to review progress and gaps. In the weeks leading up to the JAR, civil society participated in reviews of draft assessments of progress on the various elements of the NSP, including prevention, treatment and care, and health systems strengthening.

Kayongo was joined in this coalition effort by Sylvia Nakasi and Bharam Namanya of UNASO (2011 Fellow and Host Supervisor, respectively), and Leonard Okello, Alice’s Fellowship supervisor and Lillian Mworeko of ICW-EA (2012 Host)—as well as a broad range of other advocates.

The report, presented at the JAR, included a 10-point plan to halt new infections, save lives and ensure leadership, and provided a detailed critique of the national AIDS response to date.

This advocacy comes on the heels of a dynamic and successful campaign to increase funding for and recruitment of more than 6,000 health care workers throughout Uganda.

For a copy of the report, reach out to [email protected].

Press Release

AVAC statement on PEPFAR Blueprint

New York, NY – PEPFAR’s blueprint has enormous potential to accelerate global HIV prevention efforts. It rightly emphasizes that we need to ‘follow the science’ if we intend to deliver life-saving HIV prevention and treatment breakthroughs to millions of people worldwide. The blueprint underscores that success depends on scaling up combinations of effective strategies. It also places much-needed emphasis on voluntary medical male circumcision, which could prevent millions of HIV infections and do so more affordably than almost any other method today.

It’s particularly encouraging that the blueprint focuses on translating scientific breakthroughs into lives saved. Powerful new HIV prevention options could together lead to dramatic reductions in HIV infections, but we don’t have all the information we need to scale them up in the right combinations for various communities. Urgent questions about the real-world use of new prevention tools in combination have been clear for months or even years, yet the work to answer them is barely under way. That’s as unconscionable as it is unnecessary.

The blueprint also recognizes that ending AIDS will not be easy or quick. While current options can have a tremendous impact, continued science and innovation are essential to ultimately halt new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS.

The US has shown great leadership, and now it’s time for the rest of the global community to step up. Frankly, we are not on pace to end AIDS – but we could be. Global agencies, governments, donors and advocates need to work with PEPFAR now to agree on the most urgent priorities, set specific goals and demonstrate real progress within the next year.

A PDF version of this is available for download.

Contact:

Mitchell Warren, [email protected], +1-914-661-1536

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About AVAC: Founded in 1995, AVAC is a non-profit organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.