Intelligent discussion on HIV vaccine serves as a small consolation for slow progress

Despite great public interest and desperate need, progress toward a viable human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine remains incredibly slow. Since Merck began its HIV vaccine research in 1985, the pharmaceutical company has yet to produce a vaccine capable of passing Phase II testing. Merck Laboratories President Peter S. Kim recently delivered a speech at Yale University that detailed his company's previous attempts to create an HIV vaccine and outlined a possible strategy for the future. By Kim's own admission, Merck will not produce a viable vaccine in the near future. However, the speech served as an important endorsement for HIV vaccine development from a highly respected leader in the pharmaceutical industry, which, historically, has produced drugs aimed at management rather than prevention.