On May 18, advocates around the world observed HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD)—an annual commemoration of the need for and commitment to the ongoing search for a vaccine. AVAC convened a webinar—Vaccines in Vivo: Advances in AIDS Vaccine Research—and updated a number of materials, including our “HVAD Toolkit” for those interested in easy-to-digest research updates.
This year brought the launch of long-awaited initiation of clinical trials building on positive results from the RV144 “Thai” trial. This effort is led by the Pox-Protein Public-Private Partnership (P5), including the the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, who joined the webinar to provide a status update of their current vaccine research and development program. We also featured Janssen, part of Johnson & Johnson, to provide an overview of the research program they are moving forward that focuses on a cross-clade vaccine product.
In this webinar we discussed:
- When and where the P5 trials are taking place?
- What questions will be asked in the P5 “licensure track” trials—designed to bring a product to market, and what will the “research” track address? [Click here for AVAC’s explanation of the dual tracks.]
- The pipeline beyond the P5 trials—including the candidate Janssen is developing
- The role for advocates in southern Africa and around the world in terms of keeping AIDS vaccine research on track