• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

AIDS Research Funding Could Suffer From Struggling Economy

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 15:40 CDT

AIDS research could take a hit from U.S. economic woes, according to scientists on Tuesday, spelling out more trouble for researchers hoping to find a vaccine against the virus.

The U.S. government contributed $659 million, or 69 percent, of the funds earmarked for research in 2007 according to data released at a global AIDS vaccine conference in Cape Town.

However, in light of new possibilities of a recession in the U.S., many fear that the government and private sector will be forced to cut funding to a broad range of programs, including AIDS research.

Nine hundred experts are attending the international AIDS vaccine conference in Cape Town, at the epicenter of an epidemic that has infected an estimated 33 million people, of whom 5.5 million are in South Africa.

"If there is a downturn in the economy it's going to potentially have a negative impact on funding for science in general and HIV vaccine research in particular," said Alan Bernstein, executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise.

There is also the concern that philanthropic organizations, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who have become major players in health and development projects may cut back on funding.

"It's not good news for research in general and vaccine research in particular," said Bernstein.

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it was impossible to predict whether scientists would ever be able to develop an effective vaccine, as they have for other killers such as smallpox and measles.

"Will there be a guarantee that we will get a vaccine in the classical sense? Realistically you can't say that," Fauci said. "But that doesn't mean we are going to give up trying."

Fauci said the National Institutes for Health total AIDS budget this year was $1.5 billion of which $491 million was dedicated to vaccine research. This was up from $703 million in 1998, with $115 million for the vaccine, and $223 million in 1988, with 22 million allocated to developing a vaccine in an era when scientists were still optimistic about success.

The AIDS virus infects an estimated 33 million people globally and has killed between 23 and 25 million since it was identified in the 1980s. Cocktails of anti-retroviral drugs can control the virus, but there is no cure.

Fauci rejected criticism from "naysayers" who argue that too much taxpayer money has been spent on the vaccine.

"If you can prevent infection, you are preventing the need for a lifetime of expensive drugs," he said, referring to antiretroviral therapy that can prolong people's lives many years. "If you look historically, vaccines have been the most cost effective health interventions in history and continue to be so."

---

On the Net:

• U.S. National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

More News in this Category