The AIDS Vaccine Policy Agenda

Holly J. WongVice President, Public Policy

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)

Vienna, AustriaInternational AIDS Society Conference

July 18, 2010

A Time of Unprecedented Scientific Progress…And Fiscal Constraint

Policy Priorities in this Climate

To sustain an enabling environment for continued AIDS vaccine innovation

Identifying and addressing obstacles to scientific innovation

Developing new financing and incentive mechanisms for global health R&D

Demonstrating the value of an AIDS vaccine; advocating for strengthened political and financial support

Harnessing AIDS vaccine investments for economic development

Identifying and Addressing Obstacles to Scientific Innovation

Obstacles Recommendations

Product development capacity is limited

Stimulate capacity through innovative public investment

strategies targeting public and private producers

Excessive regulatory review times andmultiple conflicting regulatory requirements slow product development

Decrease review times through enhanced

administrative support;

Catalogue and disseminate regulatory requirements

Enhancing Brazil’s Capacity for Biopharmaceutical Innovation

Brazilian STD, AIDS and Hepatitis Department

Chinese Ministry of Health

Urgent need to accelerate AIDS vaccine R&D

Need for innovative approaches and new thinking

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The state of the AIDS vaccine field

Establish a community of solvers

Accelerate the time it takes to solve the problem;

Allow for multiple approaches to achieve the same goal

Prize competitions could…

Generate excitement and publicity and elevate the profile of the field;

Cast a wide net to attract participants from outside the field of interest;

Identifying and Addressing Obstacles to Scientific Innovation

Urgent need to accelerate AIDS vaccine R&D

Demonstrating the Value of an AIDS Vaccine

Key findings:

Even with full scale-up of existing prevention and treatment, new HIV infections will persist in developing countries

An AIDS vaccine with 50% efficacy given to 30% of the adult population would avert 24% of new infections 2015-2030, or 5.6 million

Preliminary findings suggest that an AIDS vaccine would be cost saving.

Potential Impact of an AIDS Vaccine in Developing Countries

Makerere Univ. School of Public Health

Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative

Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Inst.

Traditional funding for AIDS vaccine R&D is:

Insufficient Unpredictable Inflexible Short-term

New financing mechanisms could be designed to bring additional resources and accelerate global health R&D by:

Accessing funding from untapped resources

Mitigating political and economic shocks

Making future economic value of products available now

Supporting scientific risk-taking

Creating flexibility to facilitate rapid change of direction as new science emerges

Developing New Financing Mechanisms to Advance Global Health R&D

Policy priorities:

Develop a financing mechanism for global health R&D, or AIDS vaccine R&D

Expand existing mechanisms to include R&D

Investments in AIDS vaccine R&D can contribute to broader economic development goals:

In the longer term: by reducing disease burdens, increasing workforce productivity

In the near term: collaborative research with developing country partners can strengthen capacities for science and technology, contributing to growth and diversification of jobs, firms, and economies

Harnessing AIDS Vaccine Investments for Economic Development

Policy priority in this area:

Identify and advocate for best practices in maximizing development impact of global health R&D investments

Advocating for Strengthened Political and Financial Support

Policy Advocacy Priorities:

Tracking available resources for AIDS vaccine R&D to make the case for increased and diversified investment

Demonstrating the spillover benefits of AIDS vaccine investment on development and health systems strengthening

Positioning AIDS vaccines as a tool to help achieve universal access and the MDGs

Annual Investments in HIV Vaccine R&D 2000-2009U

S$ M

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Conclusions At a time of scientific progress and

fiscal constraint, it is critical to sustain and increase political and financial support to continue advancing AIDS vaccine science.

  Policy reforms are key to creating an

enabling environment to accelerate AIDS vaccine R&D.

Identifying new funders and developing new R&D financing mechanisms are urgent priorities

Policies to spur scientific innovation and engage the private sector are also key priorities to accelerate aids vaccine science