GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) have announced a public-private partnership to develop an AIDS vaccine using a promising new technology. 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, the virus that causes AIDS. The vectors are derived from adenoviruses, originally isolated from non-human primates, which have been engineered to be non-infectious and capable of efficiently delivering genes expressing HIV proteins to the immune system. IAVI will contribute technical expertise and funding, and GSK and IAVI researchers will form a joint R&D team, states a GSK release.

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 pre-clinical evaluation, GSK Biologicals and IAVI plan to conduct Phase I clinical trials of the vaccine candidates.

Seth Berkley, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative says, “Together, GSK Biologicals and IAVI will work to develop an important approach to an effective AIDS vaccine. We hope this will be the beginning of a long-term partnership that brings together some of the most promising technologies in the field. We cannot think of a better partner, given GSK’s long-standing commitment to addressing diseases of developing countries.”