GSK BIOLOGICALS AND IAVI PARTNER TO DEVELOP AIDS VACCINE

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) have formed a public-private partnership to develop an AIDS vaccine.

The collaboration will facilitate early research and development of GSK's non-human primate adenovirus vaccine vector as an enabling component of an effective AIDS vaccine. Under the agreement, IAVI and GSK will collaborate to advance the development of the technology, which uses non-infectious vaccine vectors to stimulate specific immune responses directed against HIV. IAVI will contribute technical expertise and funding, and GSK and IAVI researchers will form a joint R&D team.

The IAVI-GSK collaborative research will initially focus on vaccines designed to elicit immune responses against variants of HIV that circulate predominantly in Africa, although the goal of the collaboration is to develop vaccines that would be applicable worldwide. After preclinical evaluation, GSK and IAVI plan to conduct Phase I clinical trials of the vaccine candidates.