THE NEW YORK TIMS

Back in 1984, federal health officials, flush with excitement over discovery of the virus that causes AIDS, famously predicted that they would have a vaccine ready for market within three years. Now, after almost a quarter-century of toil and struggle, the effort has crashed in failure. No one yet knows whether a vaccine to prevent the disease will ever be possible.

David Baltimore, a Nobel-winning biologist, sounded a note of despair in an address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in February. He noted that the virus has evolved in a way that makes it virtually impossible to attack by priming the immune system, the usual goal of a vaccine. Repeated efforts have failed, he said, leaving “no hopeful route to success.” The best hope, he said, may lie in the biological equivalent of a “Hail Mary” pass — a wholly new approach that would combine gene therapy, stem cells and immunologic therapy to thwart the disease.

READ MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/opinion/30sun3.html

---