"Bill Gates hopeful of AIDS vaccine in 10 years"

[tryingtostay]

This is kinda sad.  A vaccine but not a therapeutic vaccine.  Read on

Link



Billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates, who spends millions of dollars on AIDS drug development, said Friday he hoped for a vaccine against the disease within the next decade as a cure remains far off.

"Probably the top priority is a vaccine. If we had a vaccine that can protect people, we can stop the epidemic," the Microsoft mogul said on the sidelines of an anti-AIDS-themed concert in Paris which he backs.

Since 1981, about 78 million people have been infected by HIV, which destroys immune cells and leaves the body exposed to tuberculosis, pneumonia and other opportunistic diseases.

Thirty-nine million have died, according to UN estimates, and about 35 million are living with the immune system-destroying virus today, overwhelmingly in poor countries.

Gates said the quest for an AIDS vaccine has taken longer than expected, with many disappointments along the way.

His charitable Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spends about $400 million a year on AIDS drug research, he told journalists, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

"A vaccine, that's a big area of funding for our foundation. But even in the best case that's five years away, and perhaps as long as 10," he said in a question-and-answer session with young people.

"There will continue to be substantial number of people infected... So we have to keep focused (and) get more efficient."

For now, finding a cure does not appear realistic, said Gates. "There's not even animal studies on that yet."

He said that in the next 15 years, he hoped vaccines would have eradicated polio, and stopped the spread of HIV and malaria.

Currently, the only way of dealing with HIV are cocktails of antiretroviral drugs, invented in the 1990s, used to suppress replication of the virus.

The search for a vaccine has been one of the most frustrating chapters of the AIDS saga.

Traditional antibody-based vaccine candidates have failed to put up more than a partial shield, partly because of mutations in the stealthy virus.

Treatment is lifelong, carries side effects and for many health systems, the drugs bill is spiralling.

In February, scientists said a new drug tested on monkeys provided an astonishingly effective shield against an animal version of HIV.

[xman]

According to this article Mr. Gates is quite misinformed. There are several clinical trials on humans for cure and/or eradication strategies actually in process which make me think that he was misinterpreted by the author. On the other side Gates never really cared about a cure. His funds went in vaccine research. I cannot see how he predicts a vaccine in 10 years. There's not one single candidate in advanced testing trials that shows significant protection. 

[xman]

Strangely in the link below he stated that a cure and a vaccine would be available within the next 15 years. Perhaps he changed his predictions in only 4 months???

http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/tagline/2015/spring/hiv-cure-and-vaccine-within-next-15-years

[tryingtostay]

Yeah, I found that odd that he changed his opinions i guess rather quickly.  I did suspect the reporter but you never know with HIV.

[bocker3]

This is kinda sad.  A vaccine but not a therapeutic vaccine.

I think it is "sad" only when looked at through the lens of a poz person instead of through a public health lens.  If science came up with a way to help ensure that no new cases of HIV infection needed to occur, I would jump up and down with joy. 

Many people have typed on these forums "my virus stops with me", wouldn't it be great to be able to say "this virus stops with us" and know that future generations would not need to go through what we do?

Sure -- I'd love a cure too -- but the likelihood of a preventative vaccine happening simultaneously with a cure is minuscule.

M

[Jmarksto]

Yeah, I found that odd that he changed his opinions i guess rather quickly.  I did suspect the reporter but you never know with HIV.

It has been observed with statistical significance in vivo that data mutates faster between scientists and the press than HIV does without adherence to meds. 


I wouldn't read too much into these general statements - I don't think Bill knows everything about HIV research and development, what he does know he needs to be very conservative about communicating, and if he did know something big he wouldn't be announcing it with this kind of press interview.


With regard to a preventative vs. therapeutic vaccine keep in mind that the lessons learned from each research project builds on each other and overall leads to improvements for both prevention and therapeutics (treatment and cure) - but they will take time. This is a very tiny, very complex, multi-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.