toxicity but we will hear a lot more about making them tolerable in the long term.
What I'm most excited about is that I think we'll hear seriously good
news about therapeutic vaccines - which boost the body's ability to fight
HIV infection - both in animal studies and in preliminary human trials.
And if therapeutic vaccines work, they will provide a rationale for preventative
vaccines - which stop infection in the first place. One good candidate
is the Merck vaccine whose preliminary results were announced at the retrovirus
Conference in February. Not many people know that this was initially designed
as a therapeutic vaccine.
Which areas of research are being neglected?
Vaccines, again...we cannot have enough research on a preventative HIV
vaccine. So far it's been slow progress.
I also think we should not abandon the concept of completely eradicating
the virus in people infected with it. This is very difficult and may turn
out to be impossible, but we shouldn't give up on the idea. It's proving
possible for other viruses like hepatitis C, and even though HIV works
on the immune system in a much more complex way, I think we should not
let go of the possibility.
How about political issues such as drug access?
The theme of the conference is "Knowledge and commitment for action".
Well, we already have the knowledge needed to defeat Aids. I think the
Durban Conference created the political commitment to make something happen.
Now is the moment to start doing things. There will be a lot of talk about
the nitty-gritty details of making treatment and prevention programmes
actually work. What's worked already? What
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are the practical difficulties to be overcome? Where is the money coming
