And this is where Ms. Nelsen's expertise comes in. She believes the way to pull industry into the vaccine development process is by allowing products to be sold in the developed world at a different price than in Africa or Thailand, for example. IAVI negotiates agreements with its industry partners to help ensure that suitable vaccines will be readily available in the developing world at reasonable prices. But that same agreement also would allow a company to develop products under the patent that could be sold in the developed world at a higher price. If an AIDS vaccine is going to be developed, industry is going to have to be involved.
Corporations have the necessary skills like large-scale manufacturing and quality control.
But though her time commitment to the agency is small, her commitment to its mission is wholehearted. As many as 10,000 people per day are getting infected, and 25 percent of the population in some countries in Africa already have the disease. The American population is wearing a blindfold on this issue. Because the drugs are keeping people alive, we're starting to think of AIDS like we think about pneumonia. But if my little piece can speed up the process by even one day, that's 10,000 lives saved.