Posted at Wednesday, February 21, 2007  EDT  

Gates joins Canada in AIDS fight

GLORIA GALLOWAY ,  Globe and Mail Update

OTTAWA — Microsoft founder Bill Gates concedes that finding a vaccine for AIDS is one of the toughest challenges currently facing medical researchers.

But the world's richest man said his philanthropic foundation is providing $28-million to a new Canadian initiative that aims to accelerate the development of the preventative treatment because it has the potential to prevent so much suffering worldwide.

“Every year that can be saved in the delivery of this product literally translates into millions of lives saved,” Mr. Gates told a news conference at Parliament's Centre Block Wednesday.

“Most scientists think that it probably will take more than 10 years. We could get lucky. It could happen sooner than that. But with all top problems, the more energy we put into it, clearly that's going to cut down the amount of time required.”

The Canadian government is also chipping in $111-million over five years toward the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative that will fund research by Canadian scientists. They will work in partnership with other researchers internationally.

The announcement was short on specifics, but the money will be used to discover new vaccine candidates and strengthen the ability to run clinical trials. It will also be used to build a new research facility — the first of its kind in the world.

“The global HIV-AIDS pandemic is one of the most heart-wrenching health crises the world has ever seen. Forty million people currently infected, over 25 million dead and millions of children orphaned. HIV-AIDS is a killer that must be stopped,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the news conference.

“While the ultimate goal is to develop a cure, we must also work on preventive measures to halt the spread of the disease.”

Mr. Harper was rebuked by AIDS activists for refusing to attend a large international conference dedicated to fighting the disease held in Toronto last summer. The government was expected to deliver a major funding announcement at that time but backed down, saying the event had become too politicized.

Mr. Gates, who attended the Toronto conference, was asked if he was worried that the timing of the news conference yesterday — an event that was rife with election speculation — left him playing both political and charitable roles.

“I am very proud to be here standing with the Prime Minister who's putting government resources behind this cause,” he replied. “I am glad to hear that putting research money into AIDS makes people politically more popular.”

The initiative was applauded by the World Health Organization, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the Canadian AIDS Society.

“I think it is a step in the right direction, absolutely,” said Monique Doolittle-Romas, the society's executive director.

But “the vaccine is potentially five to 10 years away. We need to focus on HIV-AIDS in Canada as well today and focus on prevention, support services and education while we're waiting for the vaccine.”

Rupert Kaul, an AIDS researcher at the University of Toronto, said, “We do have a number of ideas about how to get to an effective vaccine and each step is an expensive step, so this announcement moves you a lot closer in terms of being able to do that research.”