In conjunction with tomorrow’s HIV Vaccine
Summit in Bethesda, Maryland, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
will host a press teleconference on Tuesday, March 25th
at 12:15 P.M. (EDT) to call for the suspension of costly HIV
vaccine research funding and the re-allocation of resources into
effective HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and treatment strategies proven
to save lives. The Bethesda Summit, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow
at 8:30 a.m. (EDT), has been convened by the director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Dr. Anthony Fauci
at the urging of members of the scientific community concerned by the
overall HIV vaccine funding strategy in the wake of a string of recent,
highly publicized clinical trial failures.
WHAT:
Press Teleconference Call - AHF to Call for Halt to HIV Vaccine
Funding
WHEN:
TUESDAY, March 25th 2008
12:15 p.m. Eastern
WHO:
Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Homayoon Khanlou, M.D., Chief of Medicine/U.S., AIDS
Healthcare Foundation
Tom Myers, Chief of Public Affairs and General Counsel,
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
HOW:
Teleconference dial in information:
Domestic: +1.877.411.9748 participant code # 7931503
Int'l: +1.636.651.3128 participant code # 7931503
In “Enough is Enough,”
an opinion editorial published in the Baltimore Sun this past
Sunday, co-authors Homayoon Khanlou, M.D., AHF’s
Chief of Medicine/U.S. and Michael Weinstein, AHF’s
President, criticize the ballooning HIV vaccine research budget, stating
that “it is time to stop the waste.”
“Suspending U.S. funding for an HIV vaccine
and investing in strategies that save lives and stop new infections is
the wisest and most effective use of limited public resources,”
conclude Dr. Khanlou and Mr. Weinstein. “And
with thousands of lives lost daily because people around the world lack
access to proven, effective and relatively inexpensive prevention and
treatment options, it is also the only moral choice.”
About AHF
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the nation’s
largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare, research, prevention and
education provider. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services
to more than 65,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide in the US,
Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. Additional information is
available at www.aidshealth.org
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