News Notes

NIAID Pushes for Vaccine Development The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is responding full force to President Bill Clinton's call to increase vaccine development efforts against globally important diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria. "Vaccines are a major public health tool, so it makes sense that more public dollars should be spent on this research," says Margaret Johnston, assistant director for AIDS vaccines at NIAID. NIAID has launched four novel public-private partnerships, which $70 million in funding will support over the next five years. The research organizations that have received an award include Advanced BioScience Laboratories Inc., Kensington, Md.; Chiron Corp., Emeryville, Calif.; University of New South Wales, Australia; and Wyeth Lederle Vaccines and Nutrition, Pearl River, N.Y. The four contracts propose using different DNA-based HIV vaccine approaches. A DNA-based vaccine uses genetic information to make specific HIV proteins to induce an immune response. The effort toward controlling the spread of tuberculosis is also receiving attention from NIAID. An NIAID workshop led to the Blueprint for TB Vaccine Development (www.niaid. nih.gov/publications/blueprint), which sets guidelines for developing an effective vaccine. "The blueprint has received general support as a way to move forward, and further discussions are expected to follow on developing mechanisms for appropriate public-private partnerships," explains Ann Ginsberg, program officer for TB, leprosy, and other mycobacterial diseases at NIAID. In the meantime, NIAID has recently received applications under the NIAID Challenge Grants Program, which requires one-to-one matching funds from applicant organizations. This new program was made possible under a special appropriation from Congress to encourage public-private partnerships in important public health areas. Public funding will be crucial in vaccine development because private companies have little incentive to take on the expensive, long-term commitment with no guarantees for success and little likelihood of significant profit. --Nadia S. Halim GM Foods and Third World Countries Seeking to promote genetically modified foods as a crucial tool in the fight against world hunger, seven academies of science from around the world issued a 46-page report on July 11 called "Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture" (stills.nap. edu/html/transgenic/index.html). Responding in part to the genetically modified (GM) foods backlash of recent months, the working group, which included the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Third World Academy of Science, and academies from Brazil, Britain, China, India, and Mexico, emphasized making GM technologies more available and applicable to Third World countries. "We want to make sure that the industrialized phobia and potential worries about small effects from GM foods don't continue to have a chilling effect on getting this stuff where it's really needed," says NAS president and working group member Bruce Alberts. Acknowledging that GM technologies generally have been designed by and for industrialized nations, the recommendations call for new biotechnology research addressing the yield and health of staple crops of developing nations. They also stress that biotechnology companies should help expedite the establishment of Third World GM agriculture by permitting farmers to save seed for future use and by refraining from making broad intellectual property claims that could stifle research and development. "We're talking about ... waiving the intellectual property protection for the tools that are needed to service this community," Alberts comments. Primarily to ensure that the public feels comfortable with GM foods, the panel additionally recommends the establishment of public health regulatory systems in every country to monitor potential adverse human health effects. Says Alberts, "The basic idea is, let's get on with doing the right thing while taking the appropriate precautions." --Eugene Russo

News Notes

NIAID Pushes for Vaccine Development

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