CANADA, GATES FOUNDATION TO FUND HIV VACCINE DEVELOPMENT

The government of Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced new funding to support the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative in an effort to accelerate the development of effective vaccines and address critical research gaps identified by the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise.

Canada is committing up to $111 million to the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, and the Gates Foundation will provide up to $28 million.

The initiative will help researchers and institutions work with collaborators around the world on a range of HIV vaccine research activities, including: discovering vaccine candidates; strengthening clinical trial capacity; and manufacturing promising candidates for use in trials.

The initiative proposes to build a pilot manufacturing facility to increase the capacity to produce HIV vaccine candidates for use in clinical trials. The trials will be conducted mostly in low- and middle-income countries.