President and Founder of VaxGen

Dr. Francis is one of the world’s most widely recognized scientists in the field of AIDS. As head of the AIDS laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the early ’80s, he was one of the first scientists to grasp the significance of the looming AIDS epidemic and worked closely with French researchers to prove that HIV was the agent that caused AIDS. He also was one of the first to sound an early warning that the nation’s blood supply was at risk from HIV. His efforts to call attention to the AIDS threat and warn of the inadequacy of the public health response were chronicled in the book and movie And the Band Played On. In addition to his work in the lab, Dr. Francis has extensive experience fighting deadly infectious diseases. During his 21-year-career with the CDC, Dr. Francis played a key role in eradicating smallpox and led the effort to contain the world’s first outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. He also was one of two principal investigators who conducted Phase III clinical trials for the successful Hepatitis B vaccine, which bears many similarities to AIDSVAX. Dr. Francis retired from the CDC in 1992 and began work with Genentech, Inc., which had made significant investments in an HIV/AIDS vaccine. In 1995, Dr. Francis and fellow retrovirologist Dr. Robert Nowinski guided the spin-off of Genentech’s HIV vaccine unit and founded VaxGen to continue the vital work as an independent company. Dr. Francis conducted his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his M.D. from Northwestern University and his Doctor of Science in Virology from Harvard. He completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at the University of Southern California Medical Center in Los Angeles and his fellowship in infectious diseases at Harvard.

Abstract: The AIDS pandemic poses huge problems for the world. Over 53 million people have been infected and another 5 million are newly infected per year. Essentially all of these can be expected to die of AIDS. Combating this scourge, both from the preventive and the therapeutic vantage points has been a challenge. I have focused my efforts on prevention and vaccines, but equally daunting challenges have been confronted by those working on therapies.

Regarding vaccines, there is consensus that a vaccine against AIDS is urgently needed. Yet, there has been some considerable confusion and misguided steps towards making one. The reasons are several. First, despite verbal statements that an AIDS vaccine is important, there is little appreciation that the only way the AIDS epidemic is going to be stopped is through a vaccine. As a result, vaccine development has not received the political, scientific and financial stimulus that is necessary to rapidly develop and test candidate vaccines. Second, there are several bogus issues that are raised that impede vaccine development. Finally, there have been arguments that we confronted when we started the Phase III trials. These included statements like: vaccine trial participation may increase risk-taking behaviors; funding of vaccine trials will decrease funds for treatment research; vaccine trials in the developing world are unethical; if trials fail, then volunteers won’t volunteer for other trials; the virus mutates so fast that it is impossible to make a vaccine; and, vaccines will be too expensive to apply worldwide.

To counter the "we will never be able to develop and AIDS vaccine" arguments, some organizations (e.g. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; WHO/UNAIDS Programme) have pushed hard to encourage vaccine development. Only one vaccine (AIDSVAX, VaxGen, Inc., Brisbane, CA) has progressed to Phase III, efficacy testing. Two formulations have entered Phase III testing – one in North America/Europe and one in Thailand. One of these formulations (AIDSVAX B/B) is being tested in 5000 volunteers consisting mostly of men who have sex with men. The other (AIDSVAX B/E) is being tested in 2500 volunteers whose risk in intravenous drug use.