Press Release

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Awards Three-Year Grant to AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), AVAC Announces Appointment of New Executive Director

Washington, D.C. – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced a grant of $600,000 over three years to the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC). Founded in 1995, AVAC is a consumer-based advocacy organization working to speed development and delivery of AIDS vaccines to populations throughout the world.

AVAC also announced today the appointment of Chris Collins as its new Executive Director. “Expanded consumer-based advocacy is essential in order to accelerate development and delivery of vaccines for AIDS,” Collins said. “It is now clear that an AIDS vaccine is possible. The question is how soon we find it and who gets it when we do. Public support and engagement will be crucial in addressing many of the challenges in AIDS vaccine research and delivery. We thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its continuing leadership on global health, and look forward to expanding our efforts with the foundation’s generous support.”

Collins is a cofounder of AVAC, and is currently a Principal with Progressive Health Partners, a health policy consulting company. He previously handled health policy and appropriations for Rep. Nancy Pelosi. He is the primary author of two University of California, San Francisco monographs: Sustaining Support for Domestic HIV Vaccine Research (1996) and The Policy of AIDS Vaccines (2001), and was the key architect of pending legislation to give incentives to industry to develop vaccines and microbicides against the globally most deadly infectious diseases. “The AVAC board couldn’t be happier that Chris Collins has agreed to lead AVAC. Chris is committed, superbly qualified and able to raise the organization’s profile and expand on its unique activities to help make a global preventive HIV vaccine a reality,” notes Bill Snow, a founding member of AVAC’s Board.

“Stopping the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is the foundation’s number one global health priority,” affirmed Dr. Helene Gayle, senior advisor on HIV/AIDS for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Developing a vaccine for AIDS in the near term and focusing on prevention in the immediate term are our most pressing and promising imperatives. AVAC’s contribution to vaccine development and delivery is critical to our continued momentum and ultimate success.”

AVAC is a group of volunteer advocates, supported by a small professional staff, that has become a leading national voice on AIDS vaccines. In May of each year, AVAC releases a report analyzing the state of AIDS vaccine research and identifying needed actions in the public and private sectors to advance development and eventual delivery of vaccines for AIDS. AVAC also works to mobilize community support for AIDS vaccine research, develops and distributes educational materials, and advocates for expanded attention to AIDS vaccines in government and industry. AVAC staff and board members participate in a variety of national and international advisory boards shaping clinical trials, public policy, and communications strategies concerning AIDS vaccines.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is dedicated to improving people’s lives by sharing advances in health and learning with the global community. Led by Bill Gates’ father, William H. Gates Sr., and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based foundation has an asset base of $23.4 billion. For complete information, visit http://gatesfoundation.org/.

2001 AVAC Report: 6 Years and Counting: Can a Shifting Landscape Accelerate an AIDS Vaccine?

In 1996, AVAC was the first organization to demand that development of an AIDS vaccine become a national goal. President Clinton set that goal in May 1997, calling for a successful vaccine by 2007. We are now six years away from the goal and counting. None of the challenges are insurmountable. The optimism that characterizes HIV vaccine research today should drive policy makers and researchers to grapple effectively with the issues that remain. An HIV vaccine is possible. The question is how soon we find it, and who gets it when we do.

2000 AVAC Report: 7 Years and Counting: How Can We Overcome Obstacles to an AIDS Vaccine?

The last year was one of great activity across US agencies and throughout the world. This Report documents the steadily increasing activity in the quest for a vaccine against HIV. We have also identified several actions necessary to accelerate development of HIV vaccines, and we outline all of this in the AVAC Report for 2000.

1999 AVAC Report: 8 Years and Counting: What Will Speed the Development of an AIDS Vaccine?

This Report urges government, industry, and community to dedicate themselves to the development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine. If the goal for 2007 cannot be achieved, then we need to know what will be accomplished over the next eight years toward a vaccine that could bring the HIV pandemic under control. With 16,000 new HIV infections each day, the world can afford no delay. This Report describes what each of these sectors has accomplished during the past year and outlines what each can do to speed the search for a preventive vaccine.

1998 AVAC Report: 9 Years and Counting: Will We Have an HIV Vaccine by 2007?

This report surveys the public- and private-sector efforts on HIV vaccine research and development in the past year, with a focus on the US government agencies and pharmaceutical companies that are most likely to make a difference. It finds that, despite an impressive array of dedicated researchers and increasing funding for HIV vaccines, the world will fall short of President Clinton’s deadline. US government research efforts are not focused on results, leaders err on the side of caution rather than on moving forward, responsibility is diffuse, and the nation has stood silent as pharmaceutical companies, including the world’s largest vaccine producer, make little or no investment in one of the greatest public health challenges of our century. AVAC addresses these obstacles and recommends an agenda for action in this report.

Industry Investment in HIV Vaccine Research

For the first AVAC Report, AVAC interviewed 23 companies with active or once-active HIV vaccine programs about the state of investment in the HIV vaccine research field. The take-home was that the HIV vaccine effort was not the aggressive, well-funded and coordinated international strategy but instead a patchwork of efforts. The report put forth five key recommendations, including a call for the US President to make development of a safe, effective and inexpensive vaccine by 2007, a national priority.