Puerto Rico To Be New Hub For HIV Vaccine R&D
Puerto Rico is set to become the center of research and development activities for HIV/AIDS, thanks to a multi-stakeholder collaboration that will be attempting to produce a prophylactic vaccine against the infection.
The five-year project will include collaborators from the local government, health and research institutions, and the private sector. The alliance will work on determining a generation of recombinant HIV envelop proteins that could be used to develop a prophylactic vaccine. The project will be divided into three stages: the first stage will center on molecular R&D and will carry out highly specialized analytical characterization of early-stage iterations of active protogoneous products. The next stage will facilitate small scale production of the candidate protein with the right clinical attributes. At this point, the NIH will also gather material in preparation for clinical trials. The last stage of the project will realize the large scale production of the prophylactic HIV vaccine.
Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla stated that the U.S. National Institutes of Health has initiated contact with the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and has commissioned it to be the overseer for the project. “This project establishes Puerto Rico as a partner in a collaboration between industry, academia, research, and development that will be dedicated to the production of clinical grade HIV envelope protein to be tested as prophylactic vaccines. Our island has evolved from manufacturing over the counter drugs to being an instrumental partner in research to manufacture analytical/biophysical characterization development of a vaccine to fight HIV/AIDS.”
The NIH will provide $1.1 million in funds which will be matched by a $365,000 investment from the Puerto Rico Science, Technology, and Research Trust (PRSTRT). The funds will be used to purchase required equipment and support almost 30 scientists and students who have been recruited to work on the various phases of the research project.
The collaborative partnership is part of Puerto Rico’s economic recovery plan and also addresses its unmet needs in tackling HIV. According to AIDS United, the Island ranked among the top 10 AIDS case rates in the U.S. in 2010. Its HIV death rate is higher than any other state and is almost 4 times the national rate. A newly released study from New York University identifies injection drug use as the cause behind the disproportionate HIV infection among the Puerto Rican population.
Iván Ríos Mena, Executive Director of the PRSTRT, said, “HIV/AIDS is still a costly epidemic, not only because it impacts millions of lives, but because of the toll it takes on public and private funds. With this landmark project, we strengthen our mission of supporting local research [and] reaffirm our commitment to the development of a knowledge economy.”