About AIDS

Even though HIV, the AIDS virus, was discovered 15 years ago, the world waits desperately for a vaccine. In part, blame the germ: Viruses, unlike bacteria, are tiny and difficult to work with, and HIV is especially unstable. But it is also true that overall our scientific establishment has never made the kind of resources commitment required to achieve the goal. Neal Nathanson, the new head of NIH's Office of AIDS Research (OAR), aims to change that.

Dr. Nathanson proposes to raise funding levels, establish standardized comparisons of vaccine candidates in monkey trials, and forge collaborations between U.S. and foreign research labs. He hopes that an "intramural" approach between top scientists from varied disciplines will propel new achievement.

Sadly, a main reason for lagging efforts is money: The primary vaccine customers would be poor developing nations. The world's large pharmaceutical companies are not going to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into difficult research which will not generate a payback. However, the World Bank has appointed a task force to explore unusual financial mechanisms which will offer real economic incentives, possibly including a guaranteed purchase fund for poor countries or perhaps a monetary prize to the vaccine discoverer.

We've heard promises before: Remember Bill Clinton's campaign hoopla of a "Manhattan Project" to find a cure? Yet this column has repeatedly observed that a vaccine is the Third World's only hope; treatment is, and always will be, too expensive. Let's hope that this time the commitment is genuine and soon. (For more information, see Science, Vol. 281., No. 28, August 29, 1998; or http://www.science mag.org).

– Sandy Bartlett, Community Information/Education Coordinator AIDS Services of Austin