RUSSIA: HIV VACCINE RESEARCHERS LOOK AHEAD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 003429 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR OES/IHA AND EUR/RUS USAID FOR GH, E&E HHS FOR OGHA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO KHIV SOCI SCUL RS SUBJECT: RUSSIA: HIV VACCINE RESEARCHERS LOOK AHEAD MOSCOW 00003429 001.2 OF 002 THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The NIH-sponsored HIV Vaccine Workshop in St. Petersburg June 1-2 brought together over 50 researchers and government representatives from the United States and Europe to discuss recent HIV candidate vaccines and the prospects for clinical vaccine trials in Eastern Europe. Significantly, Russia's three main vaccine research groups engaged in serious collaborative discussions, after years of intense rivalries and mutual mistrust. The workshop served as a useful framework to guide research funding and clinical trial decisions in Eastern Europe over the next five years. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) The agenda for the workshop sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH),"Status of HIV Vaccine Research: An Exploratory Workshop on Perspectives and Potential for HIV Vaccine Development" included sessions on: -- Development of a vaccine research agenda, from basic research and discovery of vaccine candidates to clinical trials; -- The predominant strains of HIV circulating in Eastern Europe and Russia, and whether to match regional strains to the development of regional vaccines; -- An overview of HIV candidate vaccines, including DNA, protein, pox virus vector, and combination vaccines; and -- The prospects for clinical trials in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic Countries. ¶3. (U) At the opening of the workshop, Oleg Chestnov, Deputy Director of the Russian Health and Social Development Ministry's International Department, suggested that participants engage in dialogue on common approaches and plans for vaccine development. At the workshop's conclusion, participants proposed a series of recommendations for future collaboration, including: -- Formation of a working group to organize annual vaccine research workshops and lead an effort to develop a National HIV Vaccine Plan; -- Formation of a regional research network and improved linkages with international initiatives like the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise; -- Developing capacity in Russia and the region for conducting cohort studies, updating laboratory technologies and testing of biological products, and regulatory review of clinical trials; -- Involvement of the community of people living with HIV/AIDS and development of appropriate guidelines for ethical conduct of vaccine trials. (NOTE: While these are all laudable goals, it is unclear who would be willing and able to fund and coordinate these activities. END NOTE) Comment: Bringing Intense Rivals Together -------------- ¶4. (SBU) For years, intense rivalries between HIV vaccine researchers in St. Petersburg and scientists from Russia's other main research centers in Moscow and Novosibirsk have hampered collaborative research. It was a significant step that all three groups attended the NIH-sponsored workshop. At other recent scientific conferences or meetings with the Russian Duma, at least one of the groups has chosen not to attend, often to deliberately snub the others. These researchers have also offered competing visions of HIV vaccine research. Backed by Rector Verbitskaya of St. Petersburg State University, the St. Petersburg group has proposed that Russia's northern capital serve as the hub for all HIV vaccine research, while the Moscow and Novosibirsk groups have supported Chief Medical Officer Onishchenko's plan to establish a larger consortium of institutes across Russia that would collectively conduct this research. ¶5. (SBU) In a significant moment of detente, Dr. Andrey Kozlov, the Director of the St. Petersburg Biomedical Institute and the only Russian scientist currently using a multidisciplinary approach in MOSCOW 00003429 002.2 OF 002 HIV research, announced that he was willing to help other researchers develop cohorts of patients for vaccine trials. Although we suspect Kozlov may ultimately be more interested in helping researchers in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine rather than researchers in Moscow or Novosibirsk, he at least offered the olive branch to his Russian rivals. ¶6. (SBU) During its G8 Presidency in 2006, Russia pledged to spend $65 million on HIV vaccine research. Although no official announcement is expected until August, our contacts state that the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology (Vector) near Novosibirsk (under the jurisdiction of Chief Medical Officer Onishchenko) will get the lion's share, receiving $40 million over the next three years to conduct HIV vaccine research. St. Petersburg and Moscow researchers will likely only receive $20 million and $7 million, respectively, although the St. Petersburg group is now heavily lobbying the government to receive a larger share. One Vector researcher told us that even though the Siberian institute will receive the biggest chunk of money, it will be funding cohort development and clinical trials throughout Russia. The NIH-sponsored workshop thus served to focus the attention of Russia's leading scientists on how best to allocate research dollars in coming years. ¶7. (U) NIH has cleared this cable. BURNS