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The IAVI Mission
IAVI’s mission is to ensure the development of safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccines for use throughout the world. IAVI is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. Founded in 1996, IAVI researches and develops vaccine candidates, conducts policy analyses, and serves as an advocate for the field with offices in Africa, India, and Europe. IAVI supports a comprehensive approach to HIV and AIDS that balances the expansion and strengthening of existing HIV prevention and treatment programs with targeted investments in new AIDS prevention technologies. As the world’s only organization focused solely on the development of an AIDS vaccine, IAVI also works to ensure a future vaccine will be accessible to all who need it.
Please visit the links below to learn more about IAVI’s activities.
Research and Development (R&D)
IAVI’s scientific team, drawn largely from the vaccine industry, researches and develops HIV vaccine candidates and conducts HIV clinical trials and clinical research through partnerships with more than 40 academic, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and government institutions. The organization directs a portfolio of R&D projects, prioritizing the most promising products and moving them swiftly through the vaccine development pipeline.
In the last six years, IAVI and its network of partners have translated innovative technologies into six vaccine candidates that have entered human trials in 11 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. IAVI’s Human Core Immunology Laboratory, housed at Imperial College London, links HIV vaccine laboratories worldwide and provides comprehensive training and support to field laboratory and clinical staff involved in IAVI-sponsored trials. IAVI has also brought together leading international HIV researchers to form two scientific consortia, the Neutralizing Antibody Consortium (NAC) and the Live Attenuated Consortium (LAC) to address major obstacles in AIDS vaccine development.
Partnering with Developing Countries
IAVI implements a major part of its research, policy, and advocacy programs in developing countries, where 95% of new HIV infections are occurring. Partnering with and convening diverse stakeholders—including researchers, policymakers, and community and women’s health organizations—IAVI conducts educational initiatives, voluntary counseling and testing consultations, and capacity building to ensure an effective and transparent clinical trial process. In these settings IAVI builds or upgrades clinics and laboratories and works to address such issues as informed consent, gender equity, and access to treatment and care. It also supports local partners advocating for the development of national AIDS vaccine plans to provide vaccine research and development guidelines.
IAVI’s HIV vaccine trials, conducted in collaboration with local scientists, are located primarily in Africa and India, where different subtypes of the virus are circulating. Local partner institutions include the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI), Rwanda’s Project San Francisco, the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Zambia Emory HIV Research Project (ZEHRP). In other areas of the world where IAVI is not currently sponsoring HIV vaccine trials—Brazil and China, for example—the organization works with on-the-ground partners to support national efforts in HIV vaccine research and mobilization
Public Policy and Advocacy
IAVI partners with other organizations to analyze how improved public policies could help to accelerate vaccine R&D and ensure rapid global access to a future vaccine. IAVI’s policy publications include policy briefs, working papers, and discussion papers that document a wide range of topics, including vaccine R&D expenditures and future spending needs, vaccine demand forecasting and health and economic impacts, and incentives to increase industry participation in vaccine discovery.
IAVI’s advocacy program builds on this policy analysis to promote awareness among political, community, financial, and scientific leaders about the urgent need for an AIDS vaccine. In recent years advocacy has focused on the G8 process, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly meetings on AIDS, the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and regional and global AIDS conferences. As part of the organization’s advocacy in developing countries, IAVI is supporting the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) trilateral agreement as a vehicle for spurring cooperation in vaccine development among countries with growing biomedical research and manufacturing capabilities. |
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