[Ip-health] Forbes: String Attached: Gates AIDS Gift Requires Collaboration

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.forbes.com/2006/07/20/gates-aids-philanthropy-cx_cn_0720autofacescan01.html

String Attached: Gates AIDS Gift Requires Collaboration

Forbes
Chris Noon
07.20.06, 8:00 AM

London - A vaccine for the destructive HIV/AIDS virus has so far proved
elusive. Yet the world's largest philanthropic organization, the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation, is hoping a daisy chain of highly
collaborative research consortia will work together to speed the
creation of a treatment.

The organization will stump up $287 million over the next five years,
which will be divided into 16 grants for science squads across the
world--with the proviso that they work collaboratively on new
approaches. All the recipients of Bill Gates' largesse will be obliged
to share their findings, even if they had been working on competing
projects.

"These consortia will be linked to five central laboratories and
data-analysis facilities, enabling investigators to openly share data
and compare results, and allowing the most promising vaccine approaches
to be quickly prioritized for further development," read a statement
from the Foundation.

The World Health Organization estimates that about 40 million people are
now living with HIV, of whom roughly 38 million are in low- and
middle-income countries. According to data in the UNAIDS 2006 Report,
the global AIDS epidemic appears to be slowing down, but new infections
are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries. It says
that important progress has been made in AIDS responses, including
increases in funding and access to treatment, and it notes decreases in
HIV prevalence among young people in some countries over the past five
years.

Yet the virus remains a considerable threat due to its ability to mutate
and attack the human immune system. Vaccines work by stimulating the
immune system to ward off infections, yet progress on an effective HIV
vaccine has proven to be difficult and laborious, according to Dr.
Nicholas Hellmann of the Gates Foundation's HIV, TB and reproductive
health program.

Hellman added that this was the Gates Foundation's largest-ever
investment in HIV and AIDS research.

Gates announced on June 15 that he was stepping down from daily
operations at Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) to devote his
time to his Foundation, which has about $30 billion in assets. A few
days later, fellow titan-turned-philanthropist Warren Buffett announced
that he was to donate the lion's share of his $44 billion fortune to his
friend's organization and four Buffett family foundations.