Bill Gates digs deep in his pocket for AIDS

Aug 1 2007

The University of Maryland has been awarded a grant worth $15 Million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine.

The five-year grant awarded to the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI), will be used by the University's Institute of Human Virology (IHV) to support the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate which promises to provide broad protection against HIV.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley says the $15 million is part of the Gates Foundation’s Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery, an international network of research consortia, focused on accelerating the pace of HIV vaccine development started last year with $287 million in grants.

O’Malley says the vaccine technology has been licensed from UMBI by Wyeth through Profectus BioSciences.

Dr. Robert Gallo, one of the discoverers of HIV who developed the first HIV blood test, says the vaccine candidate is particularly interesting and unique in its properties.

Gallo says though years of research will be needed to develop an effective vaccine, early studies have shown promises of an immune system response to various HIV strains.

The rapid mutation rate of the HIV virus creates a complex challenge to those seeking an effective vaccine as the variation means that the virus can escape immune responses.

Gallo's research at the institute promises a solution to that major problem of the variation of HIV.