History of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise Soon after HIV was
identified as the cause of AIDS in 1983, there was an
expectation that an effective vaccine would be tested, developed
and deployed within several years. The intense research effort
conducted during the last 20 years has produced important
information on the virus and the disease, but an effective
vaccine remains elusive. To confront this challenge, in June
2003, a group of 24 leaders in the field of HIV vaccines
published a Policy Forum article in the journal, Science,
proposing the creation of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. The
authors recognized that current attempts to develop such a
vaccine were insufficient in scale and focus, and that a renewed
HIV vaccine research effort was required. The development of the
Enterprise has gone through four phases as documented in our
2005 - 2007 report of activities: conceptualization (2003),
planning (2004), initiation of activities (2005 – 2007), and
implementation (2008 and beyond). The Enterprise