IAVI International AIDS Vaccine Initiative [to 18 July 2015]
http://www.iavi.org/press-releases/2015

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:: AIDS Vaccine R&D Funding – Latest Data Shows Concerning Trends
July 17, 2015
NEW YORK – The latest data from the HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group highlights concerning trends in funding for vaccine-related research and development. Among the report’s key findings:

:: There’s a flat trend in AIDS vaccine R&D investment.
While funding for crucial HIV treatment and prevention programs in low- and middle-income countries is rising, vaccine R&D funding has essentially stayed flat for the past seven years.

:: The vaccine R&D donor pool is shrinking and needs greater diversity.
The majority of investment is coming from fewer large funders, raising risks to sustainability: 84% of vaccine R&D funding comes from just two sources: the United States government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The number of philanthropic donors who funded overall HIV prevention R&D in 2014 (16) was about half what it was in 2010 (30).
More than 99% of philanthropic funding for AIDS vaccine R&D in particular comes from just three sources: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (87%), the Ragon Foundation (approx. 8%) and Wellcome Trust (approx. 5%).

:: AIDS vaccine R&D has been getting ever more dependent on US government funding.
US government investments account for 70% of all funding for AIDS vaccine R&D.
Only 4.8% of HIV vaccine funding comes from European sources, a drop of 10% in 2014 over 2013 and of more than half from its 2006 height.
BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) provide 1.3% of funding.
Read the press release and the full report at http://www.hivresourcetracking.org.
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:: Vanderbilt University Medical Center Joins Human Vaccines Project as First Scientific Hub
July 13, 2015
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), the Human Vaccines Project and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) are pleased to announce that VUMC has become the Project’s first scientific hub.

Incubated by IAVI, the Human Vaccines Project is a new public-private partnership that brings together leading academic research centers, industry, governments and nonprofits to accelerate the development of vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious diseases and cancers by decoding the human immune system.

“We are delighted that Vanderbilt University Medical Center will bring its world-class vaccine research and human immunology expertise to the Human Vaccines Project,” said Wayne C. Koff, IAVI Chief Scientific Officer and the Project’s Founder.

Under the collaboration announced today, VUMC has pledged a multi-year commitment toward the Project which will include a large-scale global effort to decipher the “Human Immunome,” the basic components of the human immune system, to enhance design of next-generation vaccines and immunotherapies…