Editorial: Who will discover AIDS cure?

Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005 | 8:07 a.m.

The head of AIDS research for the federal government is confident that a vaccine against this mortal disease will someday be on the market. And he's just as confident that it will be the government that discovers it, not the private pharmaceutical industry.

"We're going to have an HIV vaccine," the researcher testified in a recent employment lawsuit, whose transcripts were reviewed and reported upon by the Associated Press. "It's not going to be made by a company. They're dropping out like flies because there is no real incentive for them to do it. We have to do it."

The remarks were made by Dr. Edmund Tramont, head of the AIDS research division of the National Institutes of Health. His point was that formulating a vaccine that would be effective against the highly complex virus that causes AIDS would require too much expensive research.

His words were echoed by the International AIDS Vaccines Initiative, a nonprofit group advocating the development of a vaccine. The group says there are a "lack of incentives for the private sector to invest in an AIDS vaccine -- the science is difficult, and the developing countries that need a vaccine most are least able to pay."

The drug companies deny such talk and say they are working industriously to develop a vaccine. We hope they are. But would you bet your life on it? Even if you were a libertarian or anti-tax conservative? The whole discussion demonstrates the necessity of having tax-funded government agencies that can work in vital areas for humanitarian reasons alone, without a profit motive.