Enhancing Hiv Vaccine Efficacy in High-Risk Drug Users

The summary for the Enhancing Hiv Vaccine Efficacy in High-Risk Drug Users grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Institutes of Health, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Enhancing Hiv Vaccine Efficacy in High-Risk Drug Users: NIDA invites domestic and international research applications related to the determination of HIV vaccine efficacy in high-risk drug-using populations. In drug-using populations, full efficacy of HIV vaccine candidates, currently in development, will be achieved through vaccine trials evaluating the candidate vaccine in combination with intervention(s) for substance abuse and related comorbidities. The current initiative seeks to support clinical research to develop strategies for implementing promising HIV vaccine candidates in cohorts of individuals at high risk for HIV infection and who abuse drugs or who are at high risk to abuse drugs. Most exposure to HIV is through high-risk behaviors and, in a substantial proportion of cases, individuals who are at high risk for HIV infection will likely remain at high risk for decades. A successful preventive or therapeutic vaccine for HIV/AIDS will, therefore, have to induce long-lasting immune responses or be given as boosts on a regular basis. Further, few studies have assessed the impact of behavioral interventions and/or treatment interventions for substance abuse on HIV incidence. Deployment of a vaccine that has shown efficacy in clinical trials - in the absence of the concurrent intervention for high-risk activity - could result in a vaccine whose effectiveness proves lower than its efficacy. Thus, behavioral and/or treatment interventions for substance abuse need to be identified and tested in populations at high-risk for HIV infection and targeted for phase III vaccine trials. The purpose of this RFA is to determine the validity of novel approaches to address the prevention of HIV and related blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections; as well as, to establish and study cohorts of high- risk drug users in the context of the developing HIV vaccine. Well-designed, targeted counseling and other interventions, such as chemotherapy for drug abuse, are needed to be adaptable and responsive to changing patterns of drug use and increasing risk behaviors of individuals exposed to first generation HIV vaccines. It is important to assess the effectiveness, sustainability, and durability of HIV prevention interventions and treatment interventions for substance users/abusers in concert with cohort HIV vaccinations studies. The data generated from such studies would provide efficacious mass vaccination paradigms for high-risk drug users.