The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) announced that the Government of Japan pledged US$10 million to support AIDS vaccine research and development over the next five years. The grant will be managed through a newly-established World Bank trust fund. Seth Berkley, President and CEO of IAVI, said, “We are extremely grateful to Japan for its generous contribution to AIDS vaccine research and development, and also to the World Bank for its untiring support to IAVI and the fight against HIV/AIDS. Japan has been a leader in the fight against infectious diseases and has the scientific capacity to help advance research for one of the toughest public health challenges we face today, the control and ultimate elimination of HIV/AIDS.”
IAVI said that with funds from Japan, and in collaboration with its Japanese partners, it “will continue to advance an AIDS vaccine candidate that is constructed using a paramyxovirus known as the Sendai virus. Viral vectors based on the Sendai family have the potential to elicit a durable and highly-targeted immune response in mucosal tissues, where HIV often establishes infection before it amplifies and spreads.”
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