They were giving a vaccine like shot for aids,I’m not sure I understand?
Rose Berg
APCO Associates
Phone: 206.224.4340
Victor Zonana
IAVI
Phone: 212.655.0201, ext. 446
NEW YORK -- The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) announced Wednesday that it has received a US$25 million grant, the largest charitable gift in the history of the AIDS pandemic, from the William H. Gates Foundation. IAVI will more than double its AIDS vaccine development efforts as a result.
"Bill and Melinda Gates' historic act of generosity will allow us to significantly accelerate the scientific effort," Seth Berkley, M.D., IAVI's president, said. "With 16,000 new HIV infections a day, 95% of them in developing countries where there is little access to treatment, we have no time to spare."
Wayne Koff, Ph.D., IAVI's vice president for research and development, said the five-year grant from the Gates Foundation will allow IAVI to begin work on up to three new vaccine candidates -- one this year, one in 2000, and a third, depending on cost and other variables, in 2001. "We are canvassing the globe for the best scientific opportunities," Koff said. IAVI is already funding the development of two promising vaccine approaches.
Berkley also announced that the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has made a grant of $2 million to IAVI, bringing the Sloan Foundation's commitment to AIDS vaccines to $5 million. "Thanks to these and other far-sighted donors, we have now raised nearly $50 million, a meaningful down payment on the $350 to $500 million budget outlined in our Scientific Blueprint for AIDS Vaccine Development," Berkley added. The Scientific Blueprint lays out a detailed scientific strategy to develop an AIDS vaccine as quickly as possible.
Gates' Goal: "A World Without AIDS"
"Melinda and I want our children - and all children - to grow up in a world without AIDS," said Bill Gates, the founder of the William H. Gates Foundation and the founder and chairman of Microsoft Corp. "Vaccines are one of the most far-reaching and effective technologies of our time. A widely distributed vaccine can help make the goal of a world without AIDS a reality. Shortening the time it will take to find a vaccine can save millions of lives. We're proud to be supporting the heroic work of IAVI in this gift, " he added.