Canada's role in advancing HIV vaccines hinges on international collaborations

World AIDS Day 2012 ushers in a renewed optimism that a safe, effective and accessible HIV vaccine is within reach, fueled by recent scientific breakthroughs and major global collaborations

WINNIPEG, Nov. 30, 2012 /CNW/ - More than 30 years after the AIDS epidemic began researchers are still looking for a vaccine to stop the virus that has killed approximately 30 million people worldwide. Canada is playing an important role through active global collaborations necessary to succeed in HIV vaccine development.

A recent analysis through the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative (CHVI) Alliance Coordinating Office (ACO) shows that the majority of HIV vaccine research in Canada published between 2007 and 2012 was collaborative in nature, involving either multiple Canadian institutions or researchers worldwide. Canadian researchers appeared as first and/or last author(s) on 72% of collaborative research articles, indicating the significance of their contributions.

"HIV is complex and particularly challenging to understand because it mutates so rapidly and has evolved a wide range of subtypes and mechanisms to attack the immune system. A sustained collaborative effort involving scientists, clinicians, research teams, funding bodies, industry and research subjects is required to combat it," says Gregory Hammond, ACO Director.

"Canadians are engaged in HIV vaccine discovery and development, both in Canada and in endemic areas, such as Sub-Saharan Africa," says ACO Scientific Advisor Allan Ronald. "We will only tackle the global challenge of developing an HIV vaccine by pooling knowledge, expertise and resources. This means working together with low- and middle-income countries and people most affected by HIV/AIDS."

The federal government also understands the importance of the CHVI and the role of the ACO. "Our government remains committed to preventing HIV and AIDS and to working with partners to develop a safe, affordable, and effective HIV vaccine.  Our commitment, and the work of Canadian researchers and other experts, is rooted in collaboration. Only by working together can we continue to move the HIV vaccine field forward," states the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health.

One of Canada's longest-standing HIV research collaborations involves a partnership between the University of Manitoba (U of M) and the University of Nairobi. Keith Fowke is a U of M professor and a visiting lecturer at the University of Nairobi who has been studying protection from HIV infection among some sex workers in Kenya for the past 25 years.

"The collaboration has been critical because HIV infections are at such high levels in Kenya. Studying HIV in a place where it is endemic is essential. This has been a real collaboration between the two centres as equal partners who contribute in many different ways," Fowke says, adding that the two universities bring various assets to the table, such as cohorts, researchers, trainees, support, equipment, and funding.

Supporting Canadian researchers is one of the key functions of the ACO, which was established last year as part of the CHVI. The ACO has been tasked with building and facilitating national and international collaborations through the CHVI Research and Development Alliance.

The ACO itself is one of more than 50 projects funded through the CHVI, and it is helping to build alliances among CHVI-funded researchers and other stakeholders. The ACO's priorities are to help set the strategic direction of HIV vaccine research in Canada, build collaborations, develop the CHVI Research and Development Alliance, link and inform stakeholders, develop new and early-career investigators, and industry outreach.

"The CHVI funding partnership between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Government of Canada has been very important in providing resources and enabling international connections that will advance HIV vaccine developments," Hammond says, adding that funding bodies and government are also developing strong international ties to accelerate the discovery of an HIV vaccine.

In September, the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, based in New York, held a funders' meeting to address some of the challenges, and Canadian representatives were at the table.

The CHVI is Canada's contribution to the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, a five-year collaborative initiative between the Government of Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and represents a significant Canadian contribution to global efforts to develop a safe, effective, affordable and globally accessible HIV vaccine. The ACO was established by the Government of Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in November 2011 at the International Centre for Infectious Diseases (ICID), a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The ACO is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

For more information, read the backgrounder.

SOURCE: Alliance Coordinating Office

Renée Barclay,
Communications Specialist, Alliance Coordinating Office
International Centre for Infectious Diseases
Tel: [phone] 
Email: [email protected]