AIDs VACCINE FACILITY

Media Release - For Immediate Release

ICID in the Running to Develop $88-million AIDS Vaccine Facility

November 30, 2008

WINNIPEG - On the eve of World AIDS day, the Winnipeg-based International Centre for Infectious Diseases (ICID) has announced that it is has been selected for the final round of competition for an $88-million grant to build a facility that will manufacture vaccines to combat the global scourge of HIV/AIDS.

The grant is part of the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative (CHVI), a $139-million joint program of the Government of Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Microsoft founder Bill Gates in February, 2007. The CHVI seeks to accelerate the development of a safe, affordable and accessible vaccine by building a facility dedicated to the manufacture of HIV/AIDS vaccines.

“The Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative will raise the battle against AIDS to a new level, and Canadians will be at the forefront,” said Terry Duguid, President and CEO of ICID. “A winning bid by the ICID will cement Winnipeg’s well-deserved reputation as a world-class centre of excellence in HIV/AIDS research. ”

If ICID’s bid is selected, the four-year, $88-million grant would fund a new facility in Manitoba to accelerate the process of taking promising vaccines from the lab to the field, to be used around the world.

Duguid said ICID’s bid is extremely competitive, in part because it builds on Winnipeg’s unique strengths in the life sciences field, as well as ICID’s own track record of working with researchers and stakeholders to prevent infectious diseases worldwide, particularly in the field of HIV/AIDS.

“Encouraging collaboration and building networks is what ICID does,” said Duguid. “We build bridges between researchers, public health agencies, and industry in order to prevent infectious diseases.”

ICID was founded in October 2004, with a mandate to foster innovation and collaboration in order to combat infectious diseases worldwide. It is home to the National Collaborating Centre on Infectious Diseases (NCCID), which has a major focus in HIV prevention, and has worked in HIV/AIDS prevention in Ukraine. It also offers biosafety training and international biosafety consulting services in conjunction with Smith Carter Architects and the National Microbiology Lab. In October ICID launched a new initiative, a Canadian Network on HPV Prevention.

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Contact:
For more information, contact:
Terry Duguid
President and CEO,
International Centre for Infectious Diseases.
(204) 943-1743