Around 38 million people are currently living with HIV, and over 1.5 million people are newly infected each year. HIV treatment and care remains a significant financial burden globally. An effective vaccine remains the best hope of ending the epidemic.

Financed by the European Commission, the European AIDS Vaccine Initiative (EAVI2020) was a 23 million euro international research project led by Imperial College London to accelerate the search for an effective HIV vaccine.

Under Professor Robin Shattock’s leadership EAVI2020 united leading HIV researchers from public organisations and biotech companies across Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA. This multidisciplinary consortium of molecular biologists, immunologists, virologists, biotechnologists and clinicians pooled their knowledge and expertise to develop ten novel vaccine concepts to stimulate both the humoral and cellular immune responses.

Over the seven years of the project these vaccines were taken from the bench to the bedside. Several clinical trials, some ongoing, were performed to test vaccine safety and effectiveness in both preventative and therapeutic settings. Read more on our ongoing EAVI2020 journey.

EAVI2020 received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 681137.