Science has made substantial progress in extending the survival of people with HIV and reducing the transmission of the virus from mothers to their children. But transferring concepts for HIV vaccines into clinical application has lagged behind.

In this article, Richard D. Klausner, head of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and colleagues, argue that there is an urgent need to create and to evaluate systematically more candidate vaccines. The rate of development of new HIV vaccine candidates also needs to be accelerated, they say.

They propose the creation of a series of coordinated 'HIV Vaccine Development Centers', each of which would have the critical mass, focus and scientific expertise needed to advance the rapid and systematic development of a particular HIV vaccine approach.

Link to Science article

Reference: Science 300, 2036 (2003)