WASHINGTON, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fourteen leadingscientists and advocacy experts in vaccines and infectious diseaseshave announced the formation of a new international Foundation toadvance and accelerate vaccine research and development againstinfectious diseases. The Foundation for Vaccine Research will beheadquartered in Washington, DC. The Foundation's mission is toraise global awareness of the need for increased, long-term,flexible funding for vaccine research against HIV/AIDS,tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases, includingneglected tropical diseases, as well as universal vaccines forinfluenza and a vaccine to avert pandemic influenza. TheFoundation's activities will focus on persuading opinion leaders,policymakers inside and outside government, and other decisionmakers of the benefits and safety of vaccines and the merits ofincreased investment in vaccine research. The Foundation will seekto mobilize resources internationally and on a large scale tofinance vaccine research globally, with a special focus on securingnew assets and the development of innovative financing mechanisms.The Foundation will also conduct televised fundraising events andbenefit concerts, with 100 percent of publicly donated funds goingdirectly to teams of scientists and their institutions. TheFoundation will also engage with the anti-vaccine movement topersuade them of the benefits of vaccines.
The leadership of the new Foundation is comprised of:
Galit Alter, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, RagonInstitute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Instituteof Technology, and Harvard University; Director, Ragon InstituteImaging Core; Director, Harvard Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)Immunology Core, Boston, USA
Patrice Debre, MD, PhD, Professor of Immunology, University ofPierre and Marie Curie, Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, Paris, France
Jose M. Gatell MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Senior Consultant& Head, Infectious Diseases & AIDS Units, Clinical Institute ofMedicine & Dermatology, Founder and Co-Director of the Catalan HIVVaccine Project (HIVACAT), Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Universityof Barcelona, Spain
Peter Hale, Founder, The It's Time Campaign, Washington, DC, USA
Sylvie Le Gall, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, RagonInstitute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Instituteof Technology, and Harvard University; Director, Ragon InstituteEducation and Training Platform, Boston, USA
Ronald C. Desrosiers, PhD, Professor of Microbiology andMolecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Director, New EnglandPrimate Research Center, Boston, USA
Willem Hanekom, Professor of Immunology; Co-Director, SouthAfrican TB Vaccine Initiative (SATVI), Institute of InfectiousDisease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, SouthAfrica
Professor Gregory Hussey, Deputy Dean: Research, Faculty ofHealth Sciences; Founder and Director, Vaccines for Africa,University of Cape Town, South Africa
Paul A. Offit, MD, Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases,Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, Children's Hospital ofPhiladelphia, Philadelphia, USA
Gregory A. Poland, MD, MACP, FIDSA, Mary Lowell Leary Professorof Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Molecular Pharmacology andExperimental Therapeutics; Director, Mayo Vaccine Research Group;Director, Translational Immunovirology and Biodefense; Editor-in-Chief, VACCINE; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
Mauro Schechter, MD, PhD, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Head,Projeto Praca Onze, Hospital Escola Sao Francisco de Assis, FederalUniversity of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Guillaume Stewart-Jones, PhD, Principal Investigator, WeatherallInstitute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, JohnRadcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
Professor Simon Wain-Hobson, PhD, Chief, Molecular Retrovirology,Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
Robin A. Weiss, PhD, Professor of Viral Oncology, Division ofInfection and Immunity, University College London, UK
The Foundation will work with a constellation of partnerinstitutions and other stakeholders around the globe. The Foundationwill incorporate the "It's Time Campaign," an advocacy and campaignorganization based in Washington, which will become a program of thenew Foundation and its main fundraising arm. The Foundation willshare offices initially with the Campaign at their headquarters at601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. The Campaign will retain its focus ofcampaigning for an HIV, TB, and malaria vaccine. The Foundation willadvocate for increased funding for vaccine research against allinfectious diseases in the belief that all vaccine research isunderfunded and that breakthroughs could come from any field.
The Foundation will also finance vaccine research directly.Funding sources will include the It's Time Campaign's internet-based campaign, televised fundraising events, benefit concerts, andother initiatives undertaken by the Foundation. In the case of majortelevised events, 100 percent of publicly donated funds will go toresearch, none to overhead costs, with the proceeds distributedworldwide to scientists and their institutions wherever the fundswill have the greatest impact in terms of accelerating vaccineresearch.
Prevention is better than cure
Of the billions of dollars spent every year fighting infectiousdiseases around the world, less than 2 percent is invested invaccine research. The Foundation believes that this is shortsightedand that we must reset our priorities. "The science and thetechnology are there to develop life-saving vaccines for the mostchallenging infectious diseases," said Founding Board Director Dr.Paul Offit of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor ofthe rotavirus vaccine. "However, the resources are not - and, whenthey are, they tend to come in bursts. Scientists everywhere needlong-term, predictable funding in order to pursue new ideas andpromising lines of research without worrying about paying nextmonth's rent."
The Foundation fills a strategic gap at a time when resources arescarce and treatment costs are soaring. "No one has been advocating,lobbying or campaigning single-mindedly or consistently on the worldstage for increased funding for vaccine research," said Peter Hale,founder of the It's Time Campaign. "It's time to fill this gap.While finding innovative new ways to persuade governments and otherfunders of the value of increased investments in vaccine research,we can help raise money for vaccine research by conducting televisedfundraising events, just as other groups are doing to acceleratecancer and diabetes research."
"It's an exciting time to advance vaccine research anddevelopment to prevent humankind's most wretched diseases," saidFounding Board Director Prof. Robin Weiss of University CollegeLondon. "However, scientists must have the resources. We needleadership and further political commitment worldwide. I am pleasedthat finally someone will be advocating and campaigning forincreased funding for vaccine research."
"Vaccines are most needed for infectious diseases that areravaging developing countries, where financial incentives forvaccine companies practically do not exist," said Founding BoardDirector Prof. Mauro Schechter of the Federal University of Rio deJaneiro. "I hope that the creation of the Foundation will galvanizeefforts to create innovative financing mechanisms and otherincentives that will expedite vaccine research and development,particularly for HIV, TB, and malaria, in developing and developedcountries."
"The personal and communal impact of colliding HIV and TBepidemics in South Africa is devastating," said Founding BoardDirector, Prof. Willem Hanekom of the South African TB VaccineInitiative at the University of Cape Town. "We also have an emergingproblem of extensively drug-resistant TB. We urgently need toprevent these diseases through effective vaccination. Vaccinedevelopment is hampered by inadequate resources; which, in turn,results from suboptimal advocacy efforts. The Foundation has acritical role in reversing this situation."
"The search for an HIV-1 vaccine is the holy grail. Breakthroughswill come, but not from tweaking a variable this way or that," saidFounding Board Director Prof. Simon Wain-Hobson of the InstitutPasteur. "We need new ideas - which take time to come - and fresherminds. We must nurture our post-docs and ensure that they have theresources they need. Good ideas could come from any quarter, evenfrom outside the field."
"Now is the time when revolutionary, unconventional ideas drivenby young investigators may lead to game-changing discoveries thatmay provide the key elements required for vaccine design against HIVand other intractable diseases," said Founding Board Director Dr.Galit Alter, an early-career investigator at the Ragon Institute ofMGH, MIT and Harvard. "We have renewed energy and momentum followingsome encouraging recent clinical trial results but we must have theresources to build on these advances."
"Vaccines have saved millions of human lives, more than any othermedical intervention," said Founding Board Director Prof. GregoryPoland of the Mayo Clinic and Editor-in-Chief of the journal,VACCINE. "With a sustained 2- to 3-fold increase in funding forvaccine research, I believe that we can eliminate infectiousdiseases as the primary cause of morbidity and mortality from theplanet within our children's lifetime."
Notes for Editors
About the Foundation
The Foundation for Vaccine Research was incorporated in theDistrict of Columbia on June 1, 2011, after complying with allapplicable provisions of the District of Columbia's NonProfitCorporation Act. The Foundation is currently organizing itsleadership to prepare for its formal launch and public debut thisfall. During the summer months, the Foundation will also be filingfor 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service.Further details of the Foundation's leadership and its inauguralevent will be announced shortly.
The Foundation's Logo
Vaccines are "miracles" that have saved millions of human livesand will continue to save millions more in the future. For thisreason, the Foundation's logo features a large "V" center stage tosymbolize the miracles worked by vaccines. The logotype was designedby award-winning typographer and designer Paul Soady in Los Angeles."Sometimes when designing a logotype magic happens, usually ithappens only ONCE in the design process," said Paul Soady. "In thecase of 'The FOUNDATION for VACCINE RESEARCH' logotype, the magichappened 5 times! The "V" happens to be the key letter in the keyword, "Vaccines." The "V" sits right in the middle of the line. "V"is considered the strongest letter in the Roman alphabet. "V" standsfor Victory, thanks to Winston Churchill. "V" is the newest letterin the alphabet, the Romans used U instead." Our thanks to PaulSoady and to fellow Australian designer Chris Davies at Shout Studioin L.A. Paul's logotype design can be viewed on the Foundation'swebsite at: www.vaccinefoundation.org
About the It's Time Campaign
The It's Time Campaign is an advocacy and campaign organizationin Washington, DC, that started as an all-volunteer group of vaccineadvocates on Capitol Hill. After hosting and organizing a specialJoint Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill on the 30th anniversaryof the eradication of smallpox on May 17, 2010, the first briefingof its kind bringing together top scientists engaged in the fieldsof HIV, TB, and malaria vaccine research, the group was encouragedby its co-sponsors to incorporate as a foundation to take theCampaign further. The event was co-sponsored by Aeras Global TBVaccine Foundation, Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, HIV VaccineTrials Network (HVTN), International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI),Jenner Society, Mayo Clinic, PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, U.S.Military HIV and Malaria Vaccine Programs, and Nature. In additionto Washington, the Campaign plans to open offices in Brussels.
SOURCE The Foundation for Vaccine Research
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