HIV, Malaria, TB: vaccine research issues and planning

Several items of note over the past few weeks on research for vaccines that would have the greatest potential benefit in the developing world:

-- HIV/AIDS: In the July-August issue of Health Affairs, a paper appears titled, "The Impact of An AIDS Vaccine In Developing Countries: A New Model and Initial Results." (free abstract). Among its findings, the paper notes that a vaccine with 50% effective administered to 30% of the developing world population (both reasonable estimates) could prevent 17 million infections in 15 years.

Speaking of HIV vaccines, the death of Dr. Edward Brandt was announced this weekend. Brandt was assistant secretary of HHS in the early 1980s when AIDS and HIV were first identified. His (and HHS secretary Margaret Heckler's) overly optimistic predictions of an HIV vaccine's arrival are featured prominently in Brandt's New York Times obituary. He opined that an HIV vaccine would be available by 1987, three years after HIV was identified.

-- Malaria: A news story in the current issue of JAMA reports on malaria vaccine development ("'Roadmap' AIDS Malaria Vaccine Efforts" -- free extract.) The story provides a very good summary of progress toward a malaria vaccine and challenges needing to be addressed. The 'roadmap' referred to is the Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap, the product of an international series of consultations.

-- Tuberculosis: We don't talk all that often about the development of new vaccines against tuberculosis, but a paper in PLoS Medicine ("Development of New Tuberculosis Vaccines: A Global Perspective on Regulatory Issues") summarizes the content of an international meeting on the topic. The paper summarizes many of the challenges facing vaccine development and offers recommend strategies to address them.