Experts attending the International AIDS conference in Mexico City say
vaccine researchers should concentrate on smaller, more focused trials
and drop any vaccines that do not show promise.
Officials from
the non-profit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, known as IAVI,
made the comment Tuesday as the group released proposals on vaccine
research and development.
The group's president, Dr. Seth
Berkley, said developing an AIDS vaccine may take more time and
innovation that originally thought, but he said scientists are
confident that science will prevail. He said it is not unexpected for
a vaccine to take decades to develop.
Another scientist from the
organization, Dr. Wayne Koff, also said strong scientific evidence in
both humans and animal models suggests developing an AIDS vaccine is
possible.
Although there is no vaccine now for AIDS, numerous drugs are on the market to control its symptoms.
AIDS
experts say that in 2007, some 2.7 million people worldwide - or 7,400
people per day, were newly infected with HIV, the immunodeficiency
virus that causes AIDS.
The International AIDS conference is
held every two years. This year's conference began Sunday and ends
Friday. This is the first time the event has been held in Latin
America.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
