By
The Associated Press
DAVOS, Switzerland - Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates pledged $100 million to the search for an AIDS vaccine and challenged the rich and powerful at the World Economic Forum to pitch in as well.
Saturday, Yahoo also promised $5 million over three years, becoming the first corporate sponsor of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
Noting that more than 5 million people were infected with the AIDS virus last year alone, Gates said the private push was meant to correct "an unbelievable market failure" of not developing a vaccine 20 years after the first cases.
"The one thing that would really change the picture would be a vaccine," he said. But with most of the new infections in the developing world, "there's no way commercial companies are going to see this as a priority."
The pledges came as the head of the initiative, Dr. Seth Berkley, announced that the first vaccine candidate designed specifically for Africa, the hardest hit continent, will enter clinical trials in Nairobi soon after winning approval from the Kenyan government.
Several of the 18 volunteers needed for phase-one of the trial, focusing mainly on the safety of the vaccine, have already been screened, Berkley said at a news conference at the forum.
Gates' commitment extends from 2002 to 2006, during which time the initiative hopes 25 possible vaccines will be introduced into development and comparison trials, Berkley said.
His organization intends to sponsor eight to 12 of them and has raised $230 million of the $550 million it's expected to cost.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced its pledge at Davos in the form of a challenge grant to encourage others at the conference of global business and government leaders to contribute.
"It's very important to have lots of people involved, partly because you need more than their money," he said.
But he said that the challenge did not mean "that this $100 million will disappear" if others don't respond.
Yahoo's pledge will be used to develop a public-awareness campaign on Yahoo sites around the world, Berkley said.
"AIDS is a devastating global problem, and we look forward to lending the power of our global network to help find a solution," Yahoo co-founder David Filo said in a statement.
Scientists from Britain's Medical Research Council, Oxford University and the University of Nairobi have been collaborating on the Kenyan project for more than four years. Much of their research has been based on a group of prostitutes from a Nairobi slum who appear to be immune to the deadly disease.
They have developed two vaccines which they hope to use in tandem to create immunity to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
