The Trump administration terminated $258 million in funding to the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD) Friday, including $129 million for Duke.
Researchers were told that the Department of Health and Human Services instead wanted “to go with currently available approaches to eliminate HIV.”
CHAVD is jointly led by the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) and the Scripps Research Institute and worked to develop vaccines that could guide the immune system to produce a set of antibodies to neutralize HIV.
Both research consortia had received $129 million seven-year grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2019 to support their work. For the DHVI, this was the third seven-year grant awarded by the institute for this purpose.
As reported by the New York Times, a senior official at the agency who was not authorized to speak on the matter and asked not to be identified said, “The consortia for HIV/AIDS vaccine development and immunology was reviewed by [National Institutes of Health] leadership, which does not support it moving forward.”
The decision comes amid sweeping federal cuts to HIV research, including the cancellation of funding for a clinical trial of HIV vaccines produced by Moderna.
According to many scientists and federal health officials, the Trump administration argues that current approaches are sufficient to combat the virus.
But HIV has no cure. The disease gradually compromises the immune system by attacking a type of immune cell crucial to fighting infections. If left untreated, HIV can progress to AIDS, which is marked by severe immunodeficiency. Nearly 40,000 people in the U.S. were affected by HIV in 2023.
At the time of receiving the 2019 grant, Barton Haynes, director of DHVI and Frederic M. Hanes distinguished professor of medicine, said he was hopeful it would allow the institute to work toward manufacturing potential vaccines and testing them in animal studies and carefully monitored human clinical trials.
The Duke CHAVD effort was a leader in its field and facilitated collaborations among researchers from across the world in hopes of developing an effective vaccine. Notably, the center also had a manufacturing facility dedicated to producing HIV vaccines, the only such facility at any academic medical center.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Ana Despa is a Pratt junior and editor-in-chief of The Chronicle's 121st volume.