The Trump administration has abruptly canceled a $258 million research program to develop a vaccine against HIV, dealing a devastating blow to scientists and prevention efforts. The program, led by Duke University and the Scripps Research Institute, had shown promise in studying broadly neutralizing antibodies that could protect against multiple HIV strains.
Over 1.2 million people in the US have HIV, with the figure standing at around 110,000 in the UK. The cancellation has sparked outrage among researchers and charities, who argue that a vaccine is the only way to effectively prevent the spread of the disease.
The NIH said it would no longer support the consortia, shifting focus to existing tools for HIV prevention and treatment. However, experts warn that this shift may not be enough to address the growing HIV epidemic, which has seen 1.3 million new infections reported worldwide in 2023 alone.
The cancellation is part of a broader rollback of federal HIV efforts, with funding for several clinical trials paused or terminated. Researchers had been working towards a vaccine using a promising approach that showed promise in animal trials, but the program’s cancellation may put this pipeline at risk.
“The HIV pandemic will never be ended without a vaccine,” said John Moore, an HIV researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College. “Killing research on one will end up killing people.”
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14767747/vaccine-HIV-canceled-trump-cuts.html